The internet can be a great place for information, but it has serious drawbacks too.

More than one in four Canadians report online harassment according to a new poll.

Shachi Kurl with the pollster Angus Reid says this translates to millions of Canadians being abused online. And this is a very real problem.

“I had someone tweet at me about this issue this morning, and they said ‘Well, if people are unhappy, they should put their phones down,’” recalls Kurl. “But for one in four who say that they’re being harassed on social media, that’s actually having real-world consequences for them.”

Consequences like changing behaviour or even changing schools or work because of the harassment.

The poll also found that Canadians feel social media platforms should take a more active role in tackling the problem.

“They do want to see those companies being more active and more proactive in terms of policing the content that people see on their platforms.”

Kurl says this is also hurting our dialogue, with six in ten people censoring themselves to avoid the so-called online trolls.