I want to focus my tactical media project around the role and responsibility that both schools and parents play in the reaction and control of cyber-bullying. The internet has created innumerable ways for people to communicate and interact, but not everyone uses these abilities for the better. Anonymity of social networking sites and blogs may allow people to take on different identities or harass others without taking any responsibility themselves for their destructive actions. Most commonly, people will make a page or profile dedicated to making fun of a certain individual or group, gathering friends to target and poke fun at them. The dangerous consequences of this don't stay within the confines of the world wide web, however.
Cyber-bullying has led to countless suicides of children, teens and young adults in just the last decade because these people felt like the only way to escape their harassment was death. Many of these cases could have been prevented had the individual's school, family or friends spoken up when they noticed something was wrong. Overall, the responsibility falls into the hands of the harasser, whether or not they feel like their actions warranted such a dramatic response as death.
It is important for all people using the internet to understand the consequences of their actions and words and that cyber-bullying is not only hurtful, but can be taken to extremely dangerous levels such as suicide.
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