| Philosophy | Social media isn’t all memes and fun dance challenges. It’s also a place of intense bullying. The bullying that previously occurred in the schoolyard, where adults could see it, has moved to mobile phones and computers. It happens in secret, out of sight of adults. The non-profit Friends conduct a vast amount of research about bullying every year, which results in The Friends Annual Report. The 2020 report found that 40% of all children and teenagers in Sweden had been bullied online. And, nearly half of them had never told an adult about it. Years of research has also shown that adults taking action is absolutely essential if bullying is to be prevented. But, for that to happen, adults actually need to be aware of the bullying. Awareness is the first step towards action. Therefore, Friends sought to reveal the hidden cyberbullying to all adults. Authentic notifications from bullied children’s hidden mobile screens were streamed to thousands of public screens, all over Sweden. The notifications popped up on top of the regular advertising, giving adults a glimpse of an unknown reality, and the awareness needed to act. The campaign was picked up by Sweden's biggest TV station (SVT) who ran a 7 minute long feature and interview with Friends about the campaign and the cause. It was also picked up by Sweden's biggest radio network (SR) in a 5 minute feature, evening press TV for an 8 minute interview and by several other papers. The locations of the DOOHs had ca 21 399 000 visits during the week of the campaign, in a country with roughly 10 million inhabitants. Interaction on Friends social media channels increased by roughly 400% and traffic on their website by 242%. And, most importantly, the new Friends Annual Report shows that awareness of cyberbullying among adults has increased by 14% since before the campaign.
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