Mr Branding: What’s the Most Toxic Platform on the Internet?

Monday, January 30, 2023

What’s the Most Toxic Platform on the Internet?

Gen Z is the first generation to have grown up with the internet, and that means that their lived experience could end up being markedly different from that of generations prior. ExpressVPN conducted a study that revealed what some of the most toxic platforms for children might end up being, and they surveyed 2,000 children from the US as well as the UK to better understand what was going on.

The first thing that this survey revealed was what the most common toxic online experiences for children might end up looking like. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 34% of kids who responded to this survey said that they experienced someone being rude to them. 31% said that they had seen a video that scared them and 26% said the same about scary images.

Parents seem to have a very different idea about what type of negative experiences children are having online. 59% of parents felt that online bullying was a common toxic interaction, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it came in fourth for children with only 22% reporting having gone through it.

Now, as for as the most toxic platforms online, YouTube was selected by 43% of children. YouTube tied with Roblox for first place in the UK, with both being chosen by 34% of children who participated in this survey.

With children over the age of 13 regularly using the internet for at least 45 minutes a day, exposure to this type of behavior can become more frequent than might have been the case otherwise. That might not be a lot of time, but regardless it is clearly enough to expose children to a wide range of behavior that can end up having a rather negative impact on them with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Parents must reconcile their assumptions with what their children are actually experiencing. Bullying is not as big of an issue as parents think, and there are other things that might be far more commonplace.