Emotions are running high at the mobile phone station: "That's really mean!" shouts 12-year-old Alice as she reads a WhatsApp chat history. She puts her hand over her mouth in horror. Her friend Thalia rubs her hands together: "Yes, that really hurt too. Try it!" she says and passes on the prepared smartphone.

Shortly afterwards, it's Björn and his colleague's turn. They giggle and shout "Wow, dude!" when the mobile phone gives them an electric shock. But then they slowly become more serious. On the screen, you can see how the portrait photo of the bullied boy has been mounted on a person wearing a straitjacket. The new picture is shared in the chat. "Offending is one thing - but that's really nasty," says Björn. Meanwhile, his fingers on his mobile phone are looking for places where he can feel the pain less.

The installation with the mobile phone current pulses is the centrepiece of the anti-bullying campaign area of the Stiftung Elternsein (Parenthood Foundation) in the Glatt shopping centre in Wallisellen (this will run until the end of the week, see info at the end of the article). In the case of particularly nasty messages in the Facebook and WhatsApp chat histories, the prepared mobile phones distribute small electric shocks and thus translate the emotional pain into physical pain.

In addition to parents, young people and teachers, some school classes also came on Tuesday to experience bullying and talk to experts and a YouTube influencer about what bullying is, why it hurts and what can be done about it. The awareness campaign by the Elternsein Foundation addresses an important topic, as around one in four young people in Switzerland are victims of cyberbullying. Attempts to scold back or get out of it alone often go wrong.

Nathalie Céline was 13 when the bullying started. She had opened a YouTube channel where she gave outfit and make-up tips. Quite successfully - because she soon had several thousand followers who commented on her videos in a friendly manner. Until her school class got wind of it. From then on, comments ranging from "you're ugly" to "why don't you kill yourself" were posted under her videos.

The bullying continued offline too: Nathalie's bike was hung up at school and she was beaten up. She sneaked through the school corridors and tried not to meet anyone. "I made the mistake of keeping quiet - I bottled it all up," she says today. Her parents didn't even know about her videos. And when a teacher played a video from Nathalie Céline's YouTube channel in class and fuelled the funny comments, seeking help was no longer an option for her anyway.

"It only got better when I was able to switch to vocational school," says Nathalie Céline. The boys, who are sitting cosily with her in a large bed in Glatt as she tells this story, give her a big look. "And why didn't you stop? With YouTube?" they ask, "Because the positive comments there have also strengthened me," she says. Today, the Youtuber also uses her huge reach (over 100,000 subscribers) to talk about bullying and encourage young people. "I no longer want it to be a taboo subject - without the taboo, I might have sought help earlier."

Getting help is also the subject of another station, where some pupils sit and discuss with the bullying experts from the zischtig.ch association. Where does bullying start? Who can you turn to? "It's possible that I've hurt someone without meaning to," one boy thinks aloud and is immediately reassured: arguing, being offended, apologising; all of that is perfectly fine and not bullying.

And if it does come to that, Mike Würmli recommends that the boys go to the school social worker. "You can get everything off your chest with them first and don't have to worry about the consequences, because they are bound by confidentiality." In any case, getting help when you're really in trouble is something completely different from snitching.

In another corner, pupils sit casually with students who chat to them about their mobile phone use and what they have already encountered in virtual space and in the classroom. These "first contacts" are close to the young people and they don't have to be as overcome as parents or teachers to tell them something.

The young people quickly realise that it is often those who dare to do something, like Nathalie Céline with her YouTube channel, and those who are a little different who are bullied. One pupil talks about her cousin who was labelled an alien just because she liked to read. Fortunately, she moved to a secondary school a little later, where there were lots of young readers.

At the end of the course through the bullying action area in the Glatt shopping centre, many of the young people pose as anti-bullying ambassadors: They stand between the angel wings of the anti-bullying angel, take funny selfies and assure: "Bullying? Not with us!"

What: "When words hurt" experience campaign with mobile phone installations, experts who can provide first aid and YouTube influencer Nathalie Céline, who will talk about her experiences with nasty online comments.

Where: Glattzentrum in Wallisellen, in the centre mall right next to the information desk

When: 4 - 9 June 2018, 12 noon to 6 p.m.

Who: For young people, parents and anyone who works with children. Experience, information and advice are free of charge.