YouTube, Cyberbullying and COVID-19

Author

Ani Shavliashvili, CUNY City CollegeFollow

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

L. Babel

Second Advisor

R. Melara

Third Advisor

M. Witter

Keywords

Cyberbullying, Bullying, YouTube, Empathy, COVID-19, Mental Health.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to uncover how people discuss bullying or cyberbullying experiences via YouTube videos before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since people were indoors during the pandemic, individuals took to social media and left comments on YouTube about bullying. Since people could not discuss bullying in-person, it was interesting to see how people shared their views on bullying and cyberbullying via YouTube, as well as how that might have changed after the start of COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how social media platforms like YouTube provide a safe space to share bullying experiences, whether they were bullied, were the bully, or witnessed the bullying. Thus, I hypothesize that people will emphasize empathy more in their comments on bullying after the start of COVID-19, given the state of the world. As a result, I will show how an online community like YouTube works as a support system for those suffering from bullying or cyberbullying.

Recommended Citation

Shavliashvili, Ani, "YouTube, Cyberbullying and COVID-19" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1091