By Wendy Medina
Not to alarm anyone, but online sources state that bullying has doubled since 2008, causing suicide the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24. Bullying has always been something many people have dealt with. There are many different types of bullying. The common ones are verbal bullying, physical bullying, and cyber-bullying.
Did you know about 16,000 teens who skip school due to bullying? Kids who self-blame and think they deserve to be bullied are most likely to face negative outcomes like depression, prolonged victimization and maladjustment. A meta-analysis found that students facing peer victimization are 2.2 times more likely to have suicide ideation and 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide than students not facing victimization.
One might think that since schools are locked down and that students really do not have any contact with each other, that bullying would be shrinking. This logical argument is not correct. In fact, 1 in 6 high school students have reported being cyberbullied in 2017.
According to edcorner.com, a scary fact is that nearly 75% of school shootings have been linked to harassment and bullying. Which if we think about it it’s really scary what bullying can do to people who just wanted to mind their own business and just go to school. Social execution is a form of bullying as well its not a nice thing to do to leave your friends out of things on purpose just to hurt you. What found is that 37% develop social anxiety, 36% develop depression and 24% end up having suicidal thoughts and or actually taking their own lives.
However, this is a problem that we can all do something about. People can talk about this problem in schools. Many districts have one specific class that highlights the problems of bullying in a one session twenty minute class. Our district recognizes Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Women’s History Month, so providing a week or even a day, to help stamp out bullying or give students who are suffering from bullying hope, is completely do-able.
Bullying will never be something thats going to end but working together we can eliminate a lot of percentage due to bullying and save lives.
Warning signs to look for in someone who you think might be getting bullied is if that person is constantly sad. If they distance away from people. If they have unexplainable injuries or frequent nightmares. And some of the warning signs to look for in the bully is if they have friends who bully other kids. In order to fit in or get accepted they will end up bullying others. If they don’t accept their responsibilities for their actions. If they get into physical fights for no type of reason. If they blame others for their problems.
During the pandemic cyberbullying has increased a lot. Zoom has already had some people saying hurtful things. Kids who used to be bullied will most likely end up being cyber-bullied because their bullies are bored or they need to entertain themselves.
The best way to help someone is to be there for them. If they tell you something even if it is in confidence. Remind them of all the beautiful things and tell them to think about their loved ones. Because even when things seem dark there is always an end to it. Tell them, “Yes, it will take a while, but you will get through it.”
The best thing anyone can do for someone who is being bullied or who is depressed is to just be there for them. If you think they need help, get it for them. There are trained professionals who care and will help at school, even if we are distance learning. But there is and always will be help to anyone who needs it. Our school community is helpful to students and they will help because they want the best for you. Please, if you are having an issue, reach out for the help that is available.
