The youth on-line life: risks, violence and support networks

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the results of an online survey carried out by five Italian Universities to investigate the cyber violence phenomenon between young people aged between 19 and 25 (2365 valid questionnaires). The web transforms social relationships because it moves them out of the ‘real’ context and places them in an undefined space–time dimension where, the identity dimension does not pass only through being passive users but active builders of content and relationships. The web is not without risks, including the well-known phenomenon of cyberviolence. The data collected allow us to focus on formal and informal networks (ref. family and school) that young people activate between real and virtual life to cope with the risks and problems arising from the phenomena of cyberviolence. Within the analysis we adopted a gender approach useful to emphasize the different forms of violence that can be characterized by male and female points of view. In the conclusions we also focus on interventions that can be put in place to address this problem by imagining the characteristics of an alliance between institutions (family and school) that could represent a safety network for boys and girls starting from the awareness of the risks that the network can offer.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyber violence
• gender violence
• informal support networks
• school
• family

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Social media platform means any medium whereby content (including, but not limited to images, videos, messages and sound files) is broadcast to, or capable of being broadcast to, the general public or a significant section of the general public. It includes (but is not limited to) Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and also any ‘blog’ or other type of web journal: https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/social-media-platform.

2 https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/ti_pubpdf_mh0417543itn_pdfweb_20171026164002.pdf (Last consultation 05/09/22).

3 Violence against Women: An European Union Wide Survey. Main Results. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2014-vaw-survey-main-results-apr14_en.pdf.

4 EIGE 2017, Cyberviolence against Women and Girls: https://eige.europa.eu/publications/cyber-violence-against-women-and-girls?lang=lt.

5 http://transmedialiteracy.upf.edu/sites/default/files/files/TL_whit_it.pdf.

6 https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Other-Resources/School-Safety/Safe-and-Supportive-Learning/Anti-Harassment-Intimidation-and-Bullying-Resource/Educator-s-Guide-Cyber-Safety.pdf.aspx, 10/12/2017.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elena Macchioni

Elena Macchioni is Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Science at Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy). She holds a PhD in Sociology. She teaches Globalization, Diversity and Inequality and People Services and care relationships.

Claudia Santoni

Claudia Santoni, Adjunct Professor of General Sociology in the Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism at the University of Macerata. PhD in Information, Theory and Communication at the Department of Social Change, Legal Institution, Communication, University of Macerata. She was an elected member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Sociological Association Section ‘Gender Studies’. She is the President of the ‘Gender Observatory’ Association.