The driving reasons behind cyberbulling can be numerous. Most often they are caused by a lack of empathy.
- Relief (Outlet for accumulated aggression)
- Appreciation (background: lack of attention at home by the important caregivers)
- Envy (here social differences can also play a role)
- Demonstration of power (background: young people often experience it from their parents, very often with violence)
- Fear (fear of failure or fear of victimization)
- Boredom (no possibilities of leisure activities, few opportunities to cope with stress)
- Strengthening the community feeling (unfortunately, sometimes, the need to belong to a community is experienced negatively: “Together we are strong” becomes “All against one” and the group builds a bullying group on the web)
- Intercultural conflicts (the reasons for cyberbullying could also include conflicts between different nationalities or ethnic groups (e.g. Catholic and Protestant), e.g. in class or at school)
- Conflicts in the class (“nerds” are not exempt from being mocked by the colleagues even outside the classroom)
- Friendships change (former best friends become rivals or relationships fall apart)
- Class communities change (new colleagues, new class composition)
- Unwanted publication of personal information (children and young people often do not know what the consequences are: they can publish personal details or intimate photos/videos of others, which should have remained private, without bad intentions)