QLD Stop Cyberbullying Challenge

Did you know that more than half of young Australians (53%) have experienced cyberbullying* and that 1 in 5 of young Australian admitted to behaving in a negative way to a peer online?**

We think that young people can play an important role in changing this and making people feel safer online. Join the cyberbullying impact challenge to create powerful solutions to combat the negative effects of cyberbullying on your community.

The top ideas will be featured on our website and social media channels and be in the running for part of our $1,000 rewards pool! You might even get connected to someone who can help you make your idea a reality! All ideas must be submitted by 5pm on the Friday 2nd of April 2021 to be considered.

What is the challenge? The Stop Cyberbullying Impact Challenge is an online design thinking program for young people between 10-21 years of age who will work in teams (or as individuals) to develop social enterprise solutions which address the causes and impact of cyberbullying on their local community.

How do I participate? This is a challenge you can do on your own or with a friend, team or family member. It can also be run by your teachers or parents. Want feedback along the way? Submit your idea by Friday 2nd of April 2021 to get feedback from the Young Change Agents team! You can login and improve your idea all the way up to the 2nd of April 2021 so the sooner you get started the more time you will have to refine it!

Why is this important? Headspace recently reported that more than half of young Australians (53%) have experienced cyberbullying 1 in 5 of young Australian admitted to behaving in a negative way to a peer online Bullying causes significant emotional and psychological distress. If not dealt with appropriately it can result in anxiety, fear, depression, and low self-esteem. People who are cyber-bullied may experience physical symptoms, struggle academically, experience feelings of isolation, powerlessness, humiliation*** 

Please be aware that talking about your experience or hearing from others about their experiences with cyberbullying could become distressing. If you’re feeling emotionally impacted by this challenge please reach out to a trusted friend, family member, teacher or school counsellor. You can also visit this website which has a range of resources that could help - https://www.csyw.qld.gov.au/campaign/stop-cyberbullying/support-service…

Who are we? Young Change Agents is a not-for-profit social enterprise that empowers young people across Australia to find problems in their community, reframe them as opportunities, and then come up with solutions. Our programs help support young people like yourselves to be Young Change Agents!

Rewards Pool (submit your idea by the 2nd of April 2021 to be considered by our judging panel)
The winners will receive the following per idea:

• A special reward from one of our social enterprise friends
• A virtual mentoring package from Young Change Agents (2 x 1 hr sessions)
• Plus the opportunity to be featured on our website and in our top ideas media campaign!

Winners will be announced here on the 14th of April 2021. The judges decision is final!

Challenge Steps

1. Identify a problem: Look around your community and identify some of the problems caused by cyberbullying that you want to solve. You might do this through talking to people you know about some of the experiences they’ve had with cyberbullying You might also do some online research about the problems that different groups (e.g. gender specific, regionally located, multicultural backgrounds) have experienced. Once you’ve found a few different problems think about the one you are the most passionate about. Again please be aware that talking about your experience or hearing from others about their experiences with cyberbullying could become distressing. If you’re feeling emotionally impacted by this challenge please reach out to a trusted friend, family member, teacher or school counsellor. You can also visit this website which has a range of resources that could help - https://www.csyw.qld.gov.au/campaign/stop-cyberbullying/support-service… 

2. Reframe it as an opportunity: At Young Change Agents we like to think about opportunities rather than problems. This helps you to be creative and innovate, rather than focus on a negative situation. To turn your problem into an opportunity you can think about what causes that problem and then how you can reframe it as an opportunity to create change. For example, #swipeitaway is a campaign created by young Queenslanders to increase awareness of the impacts of cyberbullying The problem was that cyberbullies were taking away power from young people. The opportunity was framed as, “How might we gain more power over cyberbullies?”. Try and write up your problem as an opportunity starting with, ‘How might we…? 

3. Define your audience: To create a solution that will have a positive impact you need to think about who the impact is for. You can do this by thinking about the problem and who is actually experiencing it. Is it certain groups of young people, parents, teachers? Try and figure out the type of people that you want to help. They are your ‘audience’.

4. Come up with some ideas: Now is the time to be creative! Get a notebook, post-its or some coloured paper and come up with as many ideas as you can. Imagine you have one million dollars and you can do anything you want. Imagine you had to use tech to do it. Then imagine you had no access to tech. What would you do? Push yourself to come up with at least ten different ideas. Then take a break and try and come up with even more! Think about the audience you chose and how you could best help them. Once you’ve got a lot of ideas choose the one you think would best solve your opportunity. This is your solution.

5. Test your solution: Before you share your ideas, it’s a good idea to test and improve them. For example, you might talk to your parents about the opportunity you’ve found and your idea and ask for some feedback. This can help you to make your idea even better. You might also try and talk to some people that are your audience - someone who would be impacted by your opportunity.

6. Share! Now that you’ve got an idea, we want to hear it! Fill out the form at the top of this page and share it with us. We’ll also ask for a picture of your solution. This could be of your brainstorming, a picture of what your idea would look like, a poster promoting your idea or something else that is a visual representation of your idea.

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Statistics from:

*Headspace - https://headspace.org.au/ | **e-Safety Commissioner - https://www.esafety.gov.au/ | ***Verywell Family - https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-the-effects-of-cyberbullying-46…