Prevention and Raising Awareness Towards Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying
 Cyberbullying may be a sort of badgering carried out through electronic means. The
cyberbully seeks to scare or emotionally abuse the victim by exploiting a seen imperfecti
on, such as being overweight. In other cases, the bully
might attempt to use the victims intimate data, such as nude photographs or sensitive
personal stories.
 The long-term violence and humiliation can severely damage the victim’s self-esteem,
generate stress and anxiety or even induce depression. In some of the worst cases recorded,
the constant harassment and stress lead to the victim committing suicide.
Who are those affected?
 Most of the times, this happens to children in their teenage years. Teenagers keep their
parents in the dark about this, for various reasons, such as shame, fear of being
misunderstood or simply because the parent is outright indifferent.
 Also girls are more likely to be both the perpetrators and victims of cyberbullying.
Why is there a problem?
 There are many reasons why kids and teens become cyber bullies. Usually however, cyber
bullies have some sort of insecurity. To protect their egos and feel superior, they make
others feel bad about themselves. Some cyber bullies see it as a means to gain popularity
and others do it to feel powerful or escape their own problems. At times, cyber bullies
themselves may be bullying victims so they “prey” on other people to feel better about
themselves.
What are the problem main causes?
 We often say bullies are jealous, unhappy or just unkind people. While there is some truth
to those perceptions, the reality is more nuanced. Cyberbullying, in fact, can come from
more mundane feelings, like boredom. Access opportunity can also lead students to bully
others online.
What is the impact of the problem and future consequences?
 Cyberbullying can have a significant impact on a child or teens emotional and
psychological well-being. Someone who is a victim of online bullying may experience
feelings of depression, stress and anxiety, loneliness, and may have great difficulty
sleeping. It can affect their academic performance, and may result in poor or unhealthy
eating habits, social withdrawal from others, poor concentration, low self-esteem, feelings
of worthlessness, and even thoughts of suicide. In summary, online bullying can be
devastating for a child or teen and can make his or her life absolutely unbearable.
Ways to solve Cyberbullying
In the wake of cyberbullying incidents, here are some tips to help you prevent cyberbullying from
taking place:

1. Select the most stringent security settings: Your child may not be aware that, unless they
have selected the highest security settings, everything they post on the internet will be made
public to everyone. Remind them that they should only share photos and comments with those
whom they have selected as friends. If necessary, go to your child’s page with them and secure
their settings for them.

2. Less information is better: For privacy and security purposes, make sure that they only share
their first and last name, birth month and day (no year) and state of residence to the public. This
is enough information for their friends to find them, but not enough information to threaten their
security from identity thefts and child predators.

3. Choose the same friends online as you would in the community: Remind them that they
should only be online friends with people they know personally in reality. On top of that, if your
child has experienced bullying from a particular person at school or in the community, they
should avoid becoming “friends” with that person online. This is often the number one way
cyber bullying gets its start.

4. Don’t be afraid to “de-friend”: If your child was once friendly with someone who is now
bullying them online, tell them that it is perfectly OK to delete that person from their friend list.
In addition, make sure your child knows how to remove defamatory remarks about them from
their page.

5. Limit your time on the web: The less time they spend on social networking sites; the less
presence they will have on those sites. If this is the only way they currently communicate with
their friends, encourage them to use private messaging instead of posting messages for everyone
to see.

Lastly, if your child is currently experiencing persistent cyber bullying, chances are they are
experiencing this bullying at school, as well. Ask them to immediately terminate all use of their
social networking pages and set up a meeting with a school counselor to discuss the problem.
Give your child all the support they need and remind them that bullies never speak the truth.
Evidence that support the problem

Cyberbullying facts and statistics

In a 2014 study by McAfee , nearly 87% of youngsters witnessed an act of cyberbullying. In

a narrower study conducted on a single school, nearly 34% of 11 to 15 year olds students said
they were victims of this phenomenon.

In the McAfee study, victims were also asked what caused the harrasment. Around 72% of
responders said it was their appearance, 26% claimed it was their race or religion, while 22%
stated it was theirsexuality. Another interesting finding was that girls in general are more
exposed than boy
About half of LGBTQ+ students experience online harassment -- a rate higher than average

About 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been bullied online. 30% have
had it happen more than once.

https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/how-to-stop-and-prevent-cyberbullying/

Goals of the advocacy campaign

The Goal of this advocacy campaign is to:
 Raise awareness of all members of the school community - children & young people,
parents and school staff about the harm that bullying causes and how children & young
people can be protected, including solutions to the problem of rising incidents of cyber
bullying in connection with the use of social networks.
 Establish Intervention Programs for Socially-Vulnerable Students
 Create Discipline Procedures and Consequences for Bullying
 Help in prevention of cyberbullying
The long-term goals of this advocacy campaign:

 Create Discipline Procedures and Consequences for Bullying. Discipline and

consequences for bullying should always match the severity of the issue. They also
should be designed so that the behavior will not be repeated. Lastly, discipline programs
should be created so that kids will be less likely to repeat the behavior again or risk more
severe consequences the next time around.

The intermediate goals of this advocacy campaign:

 Posting in social media to be aware on how to prevent cyberbullying
 Creating a simple poster about cyberbullying
The short-term goals of this advocacy campaign:
 Keep on researching facts about cyberbullying
 To keep encouraging people to
 Interview victims of cyberbullying to gather information that can be used in the advocacy
campaign
The outcome of the content and process
 Help in preventing and to raise awareness towards the school and others, and help
implementing cyberbullying law.
 Students faculty and staff will be aware of what cyberbullying can do.
Target Audience
 The target of this advocacy are the students, faculty and staff of Saint Mary’s University.
Stakeholders
 Who is more likely to benefits from the proposed change?
- mostly children and in their teenage years will be the one who benefits the most,
not just the children but it is also for everyone to prevent cyberbullying.
 Who is more likely to be adversely influence by the proposed change?
- Cyberbullies are the one who is more likely to be adversely influenced by the
proposed change because this advocacy is for the Cyberbullies.
 Who has the power and resources to make changes happen?
- The main source of power to make changes is the government, for the advocacy to
be more strictly implemented. And also we the students can make the changes
happen, through this advocacy we can raise awareness about the said advocacy.
 Who complains about the issue?
- Many people complain about the issue but the one who complains the most are the
children most likely the students because they were the victims of cyberbullying.
 Who are those that may be affected by the project?
- With this advocacy it can affect all the people not only the victims of cyberbullying
but also the cyberbullies.
Media Strategies
Tagline
Not all forms of abuse leave bruises,
Bullying can cause depression,
depression may lead to Suicide. Are you a murderer?
Stop cyberbullying, Be smart, don’t start.
Be kind, words don’t rewind. Be proud, no bullies allowed. Be unique, hit delete, and smile.
Bigger, Badder, but a Sadder person. Blowing out someone else’s candle doesn’t make yours shine
brighter. Bullies are a bad thing, and a sad thing. Bullies are despicable. Bullies are hurting inside.
Bullies are thugs that need hugs.
Project Timeline
Activity Description People Assigned
Creation of Facebook page To share the advocacy online Anand Javier
and Instagram and Twitter
Account
Creation of Brochures and For the information Milver Jae Guyod
flyers for the advocacy dissemination at the target Kyle Toledo
community
Creation of Digital Poster To be able to see and to Allen Espiritu
understand more what the Cris Ismael Rodriguez
problem can cause