A Call to Speak Out Against Bullying - for Vloggers

October is anti-bullying month! Sadly, bullying affects many children and teenagers around the world.

Image courtesy of Ambro/www.freedigitalphotos.net

The following facts were given on the website of DoSomething.org:

•  Bullying is the most common form of violence in schools(verbally and physically)/ 
• One incident of bullying [happens] every seven minutes. 
• It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school everyday due to the fear of attack or intimidation by other students. 
• 2 out of 3 teens are verbally or physically harassed every year. 
• 58% of teens have had hurtful things said to them online and over 40% say it’s happened more than once.

The page goes on to give a plan of action and also has a video made by young people. You can see it here.

I am a member of the 20sb network, for bloggers in their twenties. If you are also in your twenties and like to blog or vlog, you may be interested in what they have planned to mark anti-bullying month. They are asking people to:

 "post a vlog (or blog post if you’re not up for the face time) about a time you were bullied, tips for dealing with a bully, or maybe lessons you’ve learned from being a bully" 

The deadline is 24 October and entries can be left in the comments section of their blog post on anti-bullying month. They will compile highlights from the videos, to be shared at the end of October. All the details are here.

Even if you are not in your twenties (and so can't enter your vlog for the 20sb call to action), you may want to think about this theme for this month. How can bullying be prevented? How can we help young people who are being bullied? Let's hope that our actions this month can go towards answering these questions and stamping out bullying!