Online activities of Canadian youth, cybervictimization and exposure to harmful content

Acknowledgments

This presentation was funded by Public Safety Canada.

Context

• As digital technologies and the Internet become increasingly ingrained in the daily lives of Canadians, concerns about cybervictimization also continue to grow, in particular for younger Canadians, who spend the largest amount of time online.
• A recent Statistics Canada study funded by Public Safety Canada found that cybervictimization increases during adolescence and remains high among young adults (Hango, 2023).
• Cybervictimization has been associated with many negative outcomes, such as “poorer mental health, eating disorder symptoms, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt” (Kingsbury & Arim, 2023). Cybervictimization has also been found to correlate with the perpetration of cyberbullying (Walters, 2021).
• In this presentation, cybervictimization includes all online incidents in which individuals felt they were victims. The overlapping concept of exposure to several types of harmful content online, including hateful or violent content or intimate content shared without consent, is also explored.
• This presentation uses the 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS) to explore how youth (aged 15 to 24 years) spend their time online. It also considers how these behaviours compare with those of the overall population (aged 15 years and over) and how engagement in particular online activities correlates with cybervictimization and exposure to harmful content.
• Since indicators for online behaviours, cybervictimization and exposure to harmful content were measured independently and during the same reference period, the correlations explored in this presentation cannot be assumed to indicate causal relationships.

How youth spend their time online

• In the past three months, youth were more likely to spend 20 hours or more online a week for general use^Note  (42%) than the overall population (25%).
• Youth were also the most likely age group (15%) to play video games online for 20 hours or more a week, 6 percentage points more than the next highest age group, those aged 25 to 34 (9%).

Data table for Chart 1

Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
The information is grouped by Age group (appearing as row headers), Online activities, Playing video games, Percent, General Internet use and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Age group	Online activities
	General Internet use			Playing video games
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
15 years and over (total)	25	25	26	6	5	6
15 to 24 years (youth)	42	39	46	15	13	18
25 to 34 years	38	36	41	9	8	11
35 to 44 years	28	27	30	6	5	7
45 to 54 years	22	21	24	3	3	4
55 years and over	14	13	15	2	2	2

Online activities that youth were more likely to engage in than the overall population

• Youth were more likely than the overall population to engage in almost all online activities examined by the 2022 CIUS, including several related to consuming and sharing content, behaviours typically associated with cybervictimization.
• The next slide further examines several online activities that youth were the most likely among all age groups to engage in.

Data table for Chart 2

Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
The information is grouped by Online activities (appearing as row headers), Percent, Youth, 15 to 24 years, Total, 15 years and over, Age group and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Online activities	Age group
	Youth, 15 to 24 years			Total, 15 years and over
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Sent messages using an instant messaging app	92	90	94	78	77	79
Used social networking websites or apps	91	88	93	74	73	74
Watched user-generated content on video-sharing websites or platforms	89	86	91	68	67	68
Made online voice calls or video calls	82	79	85	65	64	65
Played video games	73	70	76	37	37	38
Listened to podcasts	51	47	55	39	38	40
Watched live-streaming services, excluding user-generated content	38	35	42	30	29	31
Watched eSports or other video game streaming services	33	29	36	13	13	14
Uploaded self-created content on sharing websites, a blog or a personal website	23	20	27	13	12	14
Accessed the Internet with virtual reality devices	5	4	7	3	2	3

Online activities that youth were more likely to engage in than all other age groups

• Youth were the most likely among all age groups to report having played online video games in the past three months for any amount of time (73%), 17 percentage points higher than those aged 25 to 34 (56%).
• Youth were also the most likely age group to watch eSports or other video game streaming services (33%), 10 percentage points higher than those aged 25 to 34 (23%).

Data table for Chart 3

Data table for Chart 3
Table summary
The information is grouped by Age group (appearing as row headers), Played video games, Online activities, Percent, Watched eSports or other video game streaming services and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Age group	Online activities
	Played video games			Watched eSports or other video game streaming services
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
15 years and over (total)	37	37	38	13	13	14
15 to 24 years (youth)	73	70	76	33	29	36
25 to 34 years	56	54	58	23	22	25
35 to 44 years	42	41	44	14	13	16
45 to 54 years	33	31	35	10	8	11
55 years and over	17	16	18	4	3	4

Gender^Note  differences in online activities youth engaged in

• Male youth were found to be as likely as, or more likely than, female youth to engage in most online activities examined by the 2022 CIUS.
• One exception was tracking fitness or health online, which female youth (36%) were more likely to engage in than male youth (26%).

Data table for Chart 4

Data table for Chart 4
Table summary
The information is grouped by Online activities (appearing as row headers), Male youth, Percent, Female youth, Gender and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Online activities	Gender
	Male youth			Female youth
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Played video games	88	84	91	56	51	61
Listened to news or sports	58	52	63	41	36	47
Watched eSports or other video game streaming services	48	42	53	17	13	21
Accessed the Internet with virtual reality devices	8	6	12	2	1	4

Cybervictimization among youth

• Youth were more likely than the overall population to report feeling victimized by online incidents of bullying, harassment or discrimination (6% versus 4%, respectively) or the misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content^Note  (3% versus 2%, respectively) over the past 12 months.
• Statistically, no significant differences in cybervictimization rates were detected between male and female youth.
• Previous studies have found mixed evidence for the role of gender in cybervictimization (Lozano-Blasco et al., 2023). Gender differences in cybervictimization rates for youth and young adults have been found to be most pronounced for incidents of a sexualized nature, with other types of incidents showing weaker gender differences (Hango, 2023).
• While spending time online on nearly any activity can increase the risk of cybervictimization,^Note  certain activities stood out. When comparing cybervictimization rates among youth who engaged in particular online activities with those who did not, higher rates of cybervictimization were found among youth who uploaded self-created content, used virtual reality devices to access the Internet and watched eSports or other video game streaming services. These findings are expanded upon in subsequent slides.
• No statistically significant relationships were found for other online activities more commonly associated with cybervictimization, such as using social networking websites or apps or playing video games.

Data table for Chart 5

Data table for Chart 5
Table summary
The information is grouped by Type of cybervictimization (appearing as row headers), Percent, Youth, 15 to 24 years, Total, 15 years and over, Age group and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Type of cybervictimization	Age group
	Youth, 15 to 24 years			Total, 15 years and over
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Felt like a victim of any incident	11	8	14	8	8	9
Felt like a victim of bullying, harassment or discrimination	6	5	9	4	3	4
Felt like a victim of other incidents	4	3	6	4	4	5
Felt like a victim of misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content	3	2	5	2	2	2

The relationship between cybervictimization and online activities: Uploading content

• Nearly one-quarter (23%) of youth reported uploading self-created content on sharing websites, blogs or personal websites in the past three months.
• Youth who uploaded self-created content were over three times more likely than non-uploaders (14% versus 4%, respectively) to report feeling they were victims of online bullying, harassment or discrimination, and over twice as likely (19% versus 8%, respectively) to report feeling they were victims of any online incidents.

Data table for Chart 6

Data table for Chart 6
Table summary
The information is grouped by Type of cybervictimization (appearing as row headers), 95% confidence interval, Did not upload self-created content, Percent and Uploaded self-created content, calculated using from and to units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Type of cybervictimization	Uploaded self-created content			Did not upload self-created content
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Internet non-users were excluded from this chart. Respondents were only asked to report self-created content uploaded on sharing websites, blogs or personal websites. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Felt like a victim of any incident	19	13	26	8	6	11
Felt like a victim of bullying, harassment or discrimination	14	9	21	4	3	6
Felt like a victim of other incidents	8	4	14	4	2	5
Felt like a victim of misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content	5	2	10	3	2	5

The relationship between cybervictimization and online activities: Using virtual reality devices

• About 1 in 20 youth (5%) used virtual reality devices to access the Internet over the past three months.
• Youth who were online virtual reality users were about five times more likely than non-users (16% versus 3%, respectively) to report feeling they were victims of misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content, and over twice as likely (25% versus 10%, respectively) to report feeling they were victims of any online incidents.
• Another recent study of youth (aged 13 to 17 years) in the United States found that spending time in virtual reality environments led to many cases of cybervictimization, possibly because of the immersive nature of these environments (Hinduja & Patchin, 2024).

Data table for Chart 7

Data table for Chart 7
Table summary
The information is grouped by Type of cybervictimization (appearing as row headers), Percent, Used virtual reality devices, Did not use virtual reality devices and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Type of cybervictimization	Used virtual reality devices			Did not use virtual reality devices
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Internet non-users were excluded from this chart. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Felt like a victim of any incident	25	14	42	10	8	13
Felt like a victim of misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content	16	7	33	3	2	5
Felt like a victim of bullying, harassment or discrimination	16	7	32	6	4	8
Felt like a victim of other incidents	10	4	24	4	3	6

The relationship between cybervictimization and online activities: Watching eSports or other video game streaming services

• About one-third (33%) of youth watched eSports or other video game streaming services in the past three months.
• Youth who watched video game content were almost three times more likely than non-watchers (11% versus 4%, respectively) to report feeling they were victims of online bullying, harassment or discrimination.

Data table for Chart 8

Data table for Chart 8
Table summary
The information is grouped by Type of cybervictimization (appearing as row headers), Percent, Did not watch eSports or other video game streaming services, Watched eSports or other video game streaming services and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Type of cybervictimization	Watched eSports or other video game streaming services			Did not watch eSports or other video game streaming services
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Internet non-users were excluded from this chart. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Felt like a victim of any incident	15	11	21	9	6	12
Felt like a victim of bullying, harassment or discrimination	11	8	17	4	3	6
Felt like a victim of other incidents	6	3	10	4	3	6
Felt like a victim of misuse of personal pictures, videos or other content	5	2	8	3	2	5

Youth exposure to harmful content online

• Regardless of whether they felt victimized, youth were more likely than the overall population to report seeing several types of harmful content online at least once in the past year, including content that may incite hate or violence (74% versus 51%, respectively) or intimate images or videos that may have been shared without the person’s consent (34% versus 20%, respectively). One factor likely contributing to these findings is the greater amount of time youth spend online.
• Statistically, no significant differences in rates of exposure to hateful, violent or non-consensual intimate content could be detected between male and female youth.
• When comparing rates of exposure to harmful content among youth who engaged in particular online activities with those who did not, exposure to harmful content was found to be more likely among youth who watched eSports or other video game streaming services. This finding is expanded upon in the next slide.
• No other online activities were found to have a statistically significant relationship with exposure to harmful content.

Data table for Chart 9

Data table for Chart 9
Table summary
The information is grouped by Frequency of seeing harmful content (appearing as row headers), Percent, Youth, 15 to 24 years, Total, 15 years and over, Age group and 95% confidence interval, calculated using to and from units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Frequency of seeing harmful content	Age group
	Youth, 15 to 24 years			Total, 15 years and over
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Values do not sum to 100% because Internet non-users were excluded from this chart. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Content that may incite hate or violence
Once a month to a few times a month	52	48	55	34	33	35
Once a year to a few times a year	23	20	26	17	16	18
Not in the last year	25	22	29	43	42	44
Intimate images or videos that may have been shared without the person’s consent
Once a month to a few times a month	17	14	20	10	9	10
Once a year to a few times a year	17	14	20	10	10	11
Not in the last year	66	62	69	74	74	75

The relationship between exposure to harmful content and online activities: Watching eSports or other video game streaming services

• As previously mentioned, youth who watched eSports or other video game streaming services in the past three months (33% of youth did so) were more likely than non-watchers to report feeling they were victims of online bullying, harassment or discrimination (11% versus 4%, respectively).
• Youth who watched eSports or other video game streaming services were also more likely to report being exposed to content that may incite hate or violence online on a monthly basis (64%) than those who did not watch eSports or other video game streaming services (46%).

Data table for Chart 10

Data table for Chart 10
Table summary
The information is grouped by Frequency of seeing content that may incite hate or violence (appearing as row headers), 95% confidence interval, Percent, Watched eSports or other video game streaming services and Did not watch eSports or other video game streaming services, calculated using from and to units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Frequency of seeing content that may incite hate or violence	Watched eSports or other video game streaming services			Did not watch eSports or other video game streaming services
	Percent	95% confidence interval		Percent	95% confidence interval
		from	to		from	to
Notes: Internet non-users were excluded from this chart. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2022.
Once a month to a few times a month	64	57	70	46	42	51
Once a year to a few times a year	17	12	22	26	22	30
Not in the last year	20	15	25	28	24	33

References

Hango, D. (2023). Online harms faced by youth and young adults: The prevalence and nature of cybervictimization. Insights on Canadian Society. Statistics Canada. Retrieved February 6, 2025.

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2024). Metaverse risks and harms among US youth: Experiences, gender differences, and prevention and response measures. New Media & Society. 00(0).

Kingsbury, M., & Arim, R. (2023). Cybervictimization and mental health among Canadian youth. Health Reports. Statistics Canada. Retrieved February 6, 2025.

Lozano-Blasco, R., Quilez-Robres, A., & Latorre-Cosculluela, C. (2023). Sex, age and cyber-victimization: A meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior. Volume 139, February 2023, 107491.

Walters, G. D. (2021). School-Age Bullying Victimization and Perpetration: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies and Research. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 22(5): 1129-1139.