Being young during this time is more complicated than ever.
An analysis published in Jama Pediatrics highlights the global mental health crisis, especially among the very young: the incidence of
depression and anxiety among adolescents
has doubled compared to before the pandemic and today, according to the report which included 29 studies conducted on over 80,000 young people, one in 4 adolescents, in Italy and in the world, has the clinical symptoms of depression and one in 5 signs of an anxiety disorder.
Not only that: the new normality brought about by the pandemic and distance learning have heightened the
sense of isolation
of children: more and more present online, yet even more alone and exposed to attacks by the Internet, a dangerous sounding board for
bullying and cyber bullying,
two sides of the same coin in worrying rise.
In 2021, thanks to the doubling of the time spent "connected", the number of cases of online harassment among children increased by 59%: in Italy 37% of students between 13 and 15 years of age are the victim, while a large 31% suffered physical violence.
“The pandemic of the last two years has, unfortunately, accelerated and exacerbated the acts of cyber bullying and created the so-called 'connected classes'.
This means that school no longer ends when the bell rings and the students go home and so, even the bullying that was once confined within the institution often continues online.
Those who are subjected to acts of cyber bullying feel besieged, chased even inside their own home, without the possibility of refuge or escape route.
The boys and girls who suffer from bullying and cyberbullying not only have school learning problems but often suffer from medium-long term psycho-physical health ", says Giovanna Chiesa, CEO of Convy, the benefit company that created Convy School, the first App against bullying and cyberbullying based on military encryption.
it is increasingly urgent - he continues - to make schools and sports associations "bully free" places.
This must be done both by making young people aware of the correct management of online platforms, by increasing their awareness but also by providing the means to help them ask for help ".
it is increasingly urgent - he continues - to make schools and sports associations "bully free" places.
This must be done both by making young people aware of the correct management of online platforms, by increasing their awareness but also by providing the means to help them ask for help ".
The start-up celebrates its first birthday with an important milestone, especially in times of pandemic: over 400 schools across the country, in the lead Sicily, Calabria and Campania, have joined its project, based on a technology that can help schools to apply the provisions contained in Law No. 71 of 2017. The App facilitates communication between students and the school, providing them with a familiar tool thanks to which they feel free to confide in total confidentiality, reporting critical cases without fear.
Born from the entrepreneurial intuition of Valerio Pastore, an expert in IT security and military cryptography, the Convy School App is the
first digital tool designed to prevent cyberbullying and
facilitates the school referent in monitoring and identifying potentially dangerous cases, also allowing the analysis of anonymous data by the institutions to monitor and trace the phenomenon.
Project partners include: Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Lega Pro, National Observatory for Bullying and Youth Discomfort, Italian Athletics Federation, Torino Wireless Foundation, FIR Italy (Italian Rugby Federation).
How does it work?
The App is completely free for families and, once downloaded, the system requires the user to enter the user's mobile number to make the association with the school which will have to be further confirmed.
The association will allow the person in charge of the Institute to view the list of all the families who have registered and, from that moment on, all the data and communications of the families they will make to the Institute will be safe.
All information is protected by an AES256 and RSA encryption that will allow only the person authorized by the school to access the communications made.
All data relating to families are always stored in encrypted form to ensure total privacy and confidentiality of communications.
from the school, to access the communications made.
All data relating to families are always stored in encrypted form to ensure total privacy and confidentiality of communications.
from the school, to access the communications made.
All data relating to families are always stored in encrypted form to ensure total privacy and confidentiality of communications.
What are bullying and cyberbullying?
An attack on self-esteem
Bullying is a form of aggressive and intentional behavior, both physical and psychological, oppressive and oppressive, repeated over time and carried out against people considered as easy targets or unable to defend themselves, who tend to suffer it with resignation and lack of self-esteem.
A phenomenon that finds a natural stage on the Web, giving life to its “cyber” declination.
What exactly is cyberbullying?
Italy was the first European country to introduce the word cyber bullying into its legal system thanks to Law No. 71 of 2017 which in article 2 defines it as "any form of pressure, aggression, harassment, blackmail, insult , denigration, defamation, identity theft, alteration, unlawful acquisition, manipulation, unlawful processing of personal data to the detriment of minors, carried out electronically, as well as the dissemination of online content relating to one or more members of the family of the minor whose intentional and predominant purpose is to isolate a minor or a group of minors by engaging in serious abuse, a harmful attack, or ridicule them ".
Digital devices such as mobile phones, computers, and tablets are therefore transformed
Anti-bullying principals in less than one in two schools
Despite the commitment and the regulatory provisions, there is still no adequate support for the Schools for the activation of the anti-bullying measures provided for by Law No. 71 of 2017. The figure of the referent teacher is still unknown in many situations: only the '11, 5% of schools are familiar with the Guidelines 2021 guidelines and less than 50% have implemented the protocol for taking charge of situations of bullying and cyberbullying (Source: Studenti.it, 2021).
To complete the scenario, the lack of information of families and students on the phenomenon and on how to intervene, the resistance of victims and witnesses to denounce the act of bullying.
It's still: