blogs.microsoft[.]com/on-the-issues/2022/02/07/safer-internet-day-online-civility-improves-2022-research/
As part of international Safer Internet Day, in the spirit of the theme Together for a Better Internet, Microsoft is releasing the latest results from its sixth annual study Civility, Safety and Interaction Online – 2022, and a newly updated Digital Civility Index (DCI) score.The survey, conducted in 22 countries, polled teens aged 13-17 and adults aged 18-74 about their exposure to 21 online risks across four categories (reputational, behavioral, sexual and personal/intrusive[1]), their experiences of life online (including during the pandemic) and how interactions in those areas impacted their perception of online civility. Responses to the survey generate a DCI score, which works much like a golf score: the lower the index reading (on a scale from zero to 100), the lower respondents’ risk exposure and the higher the perceived level of online civility among people in that country.
Notably, this year’s global DCI score stands at 65%, which is the best it has been since the survey began in 2016. This is also an improvement of 2% since 2020, despite perceptions of online civility deteriorating one year into the global pandemic.
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Teen girls and women respondents, on the other hand, reported being both more exposed to online risks and feeling more severe consequences as a result. Females experienced almost 60% of all risks reported in 2021, an all-time high, and were also more likely to have experienced consequences, worry or pain due to being treated uncivilly.