PROJECT 25 – CyberBullying
1 in 4 people get bullied everyday, we’re here to fight for the 25%
~ Yash Kamble
Project 25 is an effort by Yash Kamble and his team mebers that was aimed to spread awareness about cyber bullying among the young, budding, generation from underprivileged backgrounds, who will be using social media in the upcoming years, so that they will not fall prey to cyberbullying.
Sustainable development goals aimed to achieve:
- Good mental health and well-being
- Gender Equality
- Partnerships to achieve the goal
Why?
I am here just to make a difference.
With the rise in Covid cases in recent years, cyber bullying has been one of the most major issues faced by people. Nowadays it can be seen extremely prominent in kids and adults as well. It can be due to numerous reasons like power hunger, revenge, boredom, unnecessary hate.
Most of the time, despite so many cases of cyber bullying, many people often tend to forget so many ill effects it has on them. It majorly has a psychological effect on people, to such an extent that they can suffer through serious depression, social anxiety, loneliness and also have suicidal thoughts. It can be directly linked to reason for suicide in teens. Creating mental health issues at a young age can cause issues for them later in life. Issues like depression, low self-esteem are just among the many issues that can be formed for a victim of cyberbullying. As rightly researched and stated by Bauman, Toomey, & Walker, 2013; “Studies have shown that a high number of suicides among those who are victims of cyberbullying. Moreover, several studies have found higher incidence of suicidality among victims of cyberbullying” . If cyber bullying continues many lives will be at a high stake.
My team and I did some research about cyber bullying and were completely shocked to see such terrific results.
- 48% of Grade 6-8 students experience Bullying in India
- 36% of Grade 9-12 students experience bullying in India
- 34% of teens reported themselves as victims of cyber bullying
- 44% of them say they think they’ve been bullied in the last 30 days
It’s high time to take this matter into serious consideration and take steps to solve this matter to the best of our abilities so that people who haven’t been a victim of cyberbullying can be saved.
How?
How was I and my team able to make an impact and participate in this project wholeheartedly? Read on to know.
What did we do as a team?
- PPT Creation & survey:
Created an interactive and vibrant presentation so that the students could find it more attractive and intriguing to look at. We also carried out a survey so that we could have some of our own statistics that we can rely to
- Games and Unique activities:
We played fun and out of the box games so that apart from spreading knowledge, they could also have fun and apply the knowledge given in the game
- Giving Assignments and HW:
Giving assignments to students will help them remember the info and they’ll have to something to look back at once they complete the assignment
NGOs we worked with:
How did we approach the problem?
- Primary Research:
Primary research was the most important because only through it we would be able to carry the process forward. Primary research mainly was about Cyber Bullying and the effects it has on mental health.
- Open discussion with the team & creating a Survey Form:
Discussing about the topic openly helped us gain different point of views and how much perception matters while doing such projects. After this process we created Survey Forms to obtain the statistics we’ll use for the workshops in the future.
- Analyzing the Survey Form and preparing for the workshop:
We collected a total of 63 responses as of now and analyzed them thoroughly to get the data we require for our workshops. We used the statistics from the web as well to just start with the preparation for the workshop.
- Division of Roles and conducting workshops:
We divide the roles as per our likings. After we finished with the prep for our workshop, we conducted the same with 2 NGO’s which were the Shakti Foundation and the Pratyek Foundation. We did so in order to spread as much awareness as possible regarding such a crucial issue.
Questions for the Survey Form:
- What social platforms do you use often?
- Have you ever been cyber-bullied on any of the above mentioned social media platforms?
- Who was the person who cyber-bullied you?
- How did you overcome it when you were cyberbullied? Or what helped you during that time?
- Have you ever uploaded a video, post etc. on any social media platform? If yes, what kind of reactions or comments do you get for such videos and posts?
- How do you think the pandemic has impacted an average teenager’s mental health?
- What do you think can be done to reduce cyber-bullying?
The Workshop
Preparation for the workshop
The Workshop
Did we face any obstacles?
During the workshop, it seemed as if there was too much information for the students to register. I came up with a few jokes here and there so that it would lighten up their mood and would enjoy the session at the same time as well. The second major problem we faced was the interaction with the students. For the same reasons we decided to come up with some fun and unique activities for the students to enjoy and learn something from at the same time. We learnt a lot from the first workshop, hence we kept all the important points in mind while preparing for the second workshop.
What impact did we make?
Before the workshop our one and only goal was to spread as much knowledge as we can about this crucial topic so that later in the future, small and budding generations don’t become a victim of cyberbullying. While carrying out the activities, we knew that our goal was achieved after we heard the answers from the students with such enthusiasm. Our goal of spreading knowledge and awareness about the issue of cyberbullying was achieved!
Through this summer programme carried out by TribesForGood, I really learned a lot. Not only about cyber bullying, but also about numerous life lessons like, teamwork, persistence, team coordination etc. My goal for this summer programme was achieved by the end, which was ‘TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE’. I made a difference to small, budding children’s lives by educating them about such a crucial issue which was Cyber Bullying. I would absolutely love working with TribesFroGood again, to make an impact in the society and educating students about various other issues as well. For making the world a better place, I would be the happiest to help!