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AwareNet: Youth Empowerment in the Digital Age

2023-3-EL02-KA152-YOU-0001758222023Mobility of young peopleongoing
Countries: EL|HU|IT|MK|PT|LV|TR|BG · Grant: €28,189
Digital content, technologies and practicesPrevention of bullyingDigital safety

Objectives

With the advancement of technology, societies continue to evolve. In the information society, users are also included in the system as people who provide, produce and disseminate information by leaving the position of only consuming information. Users spend most of their time in social media platforms, as they are an area of freedom where people share their personal or professional knowledge, experience, ideas, attitudes, feelings and thoughts. The average person spends 2 hours a day on social media, which corresponds to 5 years and 4 months of life expectancy. The same person could have spent this time doing 10,000 marathons or going to the moon 32 times. Especially young people spend 9 hours a day on social media. Although social media is a unique tool to connect with the world, its excessive use negatively affects users in every sense. For example, according to a study conducted in the United States in 2018, young people who spend 5 hours a day using the phone show 2 times more symptoms of depression compared to young people who spend 1 hour a day on mobile. Looking at the relationship between mobile use and depression, women show 58% more depression symptoms compared to men. Cyberbullying is also a worldwide issue. The enormous destruction that it will create and is creating for humanity requires that this problem be addressed urgently. UNICEF has issued a warning today, noting that 70.6 percent of young people aged 15-24 worldwide are exposed to dangers from online violence, cyberbullying and digital harassment. Cyberbullying can cause serious harm; because it can reach a wide audience in a short time, remain accessible online indefinitely, thus “following” its victims throughout their lives. Bullying and cyberbullying feed each other, and these two together form a harmful behavior association and continuity. Victims of cyberbullying are more likely to use alcohol, drugs, and avoid school than other students. They are also relatively more likely to get bad grades at school, have low self-esteem, and face health problems. In some extreme cases, there may be situations where cyberbullying leads to suicide. Another important study, in a systematic review of 76 studies on cyberbullying and victimization among adolescents, published between 2007 and 2017, found that the prevalence rates of cyberbullying were between 5.3% and 66.2%, and cyberbullying victimization rates were 1%. It has been determined that it is seen between 9 and 84.0%. Regardless of the type of cyberbullying, it is seen that there are many negative effects on individuals. When we look at the studies, it is noteworthy that cyberbullying negatively affects the lives of adolescents in many areas (emotional, social, academic, etc.), and this can be long-term. In this context, our special goals are: 1- Raising awareness among young people about the causes and consequences of social media addiction and cyberbullying 2- To increase the level of knowledge of young people about the cause and effect relationship between social media addiction and cyberbullying, the concept of social media addiction, cyberbullying and what social media affects more. 3- To increase the motivation of young people to take individual responsibility in order to prevent social media addiction 4- To create support networks for people who are exposed to social media addiction and cyberbullying. To form groups that provide counseling services, psychological support and a safe environment to individuals. 5- To inform about safe internet use. To inform people and young people about the safe use of the Internet. 6- Integrating social media addiction and cyberbullying into the school curriculum and providing information to students about these issues from an early age.

Project partners (8)