Cyberbullying
Briefly describe the overall goal of your PSA: Cyberbullying
Your overall goal should either involve bringing awareness to an issue or promoting a change in behavior.
Briefly describe the target audience for your PSA.
Your audience should guide the creation of your PSA. Think about who they are (age, interests, opinions, influences, etc.), what they expect, what they know and understand, what they don’t know and understand, and how to convince them.
Write a paragraph that explains and details the current situation regarding your topic. Include at least 1 fact from a source.
Write a paragraph that explains why it is important for people to know about this topic. Include at least 1 fact from a source.
Project Requirements
o Topic appropriate for a PSA
o PSA goal
o PSA specified audience
o Summary of the current situation of your topic for your PSA
o Explanation of validity of solution or behavior promoted in PSA
o Explanation of why people need to understand the issue
o List of sources
o List of facts
o PSA video
Sample Solution
The goal of this PSA is to bring awareness to the issue of cyberbullying and promote a change in behavior by encouraging people not to engage in it. The target audience for this PSA are youth aged 13-24, even though anyone can be affected by cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying has become a large issue with the increasing popularity of social media platforms, as well as digital communication technologies such as chat apps and texting. There were an estimated 10 million cases of cyberbullying reported on social media between 2018 and 2019 (Dove). People at risk are not only youth but also adults, who could be victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying. Cyber bullying can cause serious harm including anxiety, depression, low self esteem and even suicide (“Bullies Keep Out”). It is important that people understand the severity of cyber bullying so they can take action against it if they witness it or are a victim themselves.
It is important for people to know about this topic because if left unchecked, the effects can be devastating - both mentally and physically - on victims of cyberbullying. Moreover, studies have found that one fifth of all students experienced some form of online harassment during their time in school (Cox et al., 2017). With more young people using technology every day, we must educate them on how best to use it responsibly without hate or abuse becoming involved in online interactions.
The sources used for this information include “Bullies Keep Out” website which offers tips on dealing with bullying; Dove Self Esteem Project which provides research regarding rates of reported cases; Cox et al., 2017 research paper which examines national survey data from 7th through 12th grade students; and finally GetNetwise website discussing facts about internet safety . The facts used include: 10 million cases reported between 2018-2019; One fifth (20%)of all students experience some form of online harassment during their time in school; Mental health issues due to being a victim or instigator include anxiety, depression low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts/actions.
It is clear that there needs to be greater awareness surrounding the issue of cyberbullying so that everyone understands its potential impact – both positive and negative – on individuals within society today. Through raising awareness we can look forward to seeing less incidents occur but when they do happen there will still need to education available so that users know how best handle any situation going forward