Social Action Project- introduction 

The topic I want to research for my social action project is cyber bullying. Cyberbulling is bullying with the use of electronic devices by intimidating or threatening a certain group or person. It has to be involved with a minor, whether that be the instigator or the victim.  The reason kids cyberbully is because they might be filled anger, revenge, frustration, or just simply do it because they are bored. It is easier for the perpetrator to use his/her electronic devices to bully because they do not need face to face interaction. Individuals can pretend to be someone else or create a fake account to spread embarrassing pictures of someone so it does trace back to them. Cyber bullying can lead to anxiety, depression, and suicide. 1 in 3 teens or adolescents have been bullied through some sort of online communication and of the 1/3rd, 1 in 10 tell their parents. Also, 1 in 5 teens say they have sent or received sexual content on their cell phones, and if it ends up in the wrong hands, it can be devastating. The ethical significance of this issue is that it is causing minors to harm themselves or others. They believe that they are not doing anything immoral because their actions are through the internet so they think they are not physically harming someone. The historical significance of cyberbullying is that it has drastically grown. When minors grow up around electronics it becomes the norm of communicating, therefore it allows easier access to cyberbullying. As technology keeps advancing, cyberbullying will grow. In order for this to stop, it has to be prevented and actions need to be taken.

Title: Cyberbully Stats
Link:http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html
Date accssed: 8 October 2014

For my social action project I would make a twitter account that tweets facts about cyberbullying. These facts would be used to draw people's attention to how important this is and how fast it is growing. Obviously this would not just blow up with retweets from the start, it would need help from bigger people. I would hope to have influential people retweet the tweets and sponsor the idea of stopping cyberbullying like the "Don't Text and Drive" campaign, but on social media. Cyberbullies use the power of the internet and how fast things can spread to their advantage, so I would as well. There are plenty of accounts with the same idea as mine in the past, such as the link attached. The one thing these do not do is reach out to more influential people to help them, which is what I would do. This type of response to the issue of cyberbullying works out perfectly. As is said earlier, cyberbullies use the internet to bully people, and I am using it to stop them. It is sort of like the saying " taste of your own medicine". There are many other options in order to prevent cyberbullying such as flash mobs, protests, civil disobedience, but I think this fits best to the idea of trying to stop it because it allows for people to relate to due to how predominant social media is on our lives today. 

Twitter account: @StopCyberBullies
Date accessed: 8 October 2014