Bullying
By Mitchell Blaschke
What?
Bullying is defined as repeated instances of verbal, physical, or cyber harassment. it affects everyone in various ways with a prominent way being depression in those who are victims.
Why?
Bullying happens for many reasons. sometimes the bully feels like they are powerless in life so they wish to assert dominance over those they find to be weaker than themselves. maybe the victim is considered to be part of an "other" category and is ostracized because of it. whatever the reasons bullying isn't an acceptable course of action. it can cause very poor consequences with the victim.
Who?
who? in bullying there are two or more parties involved at least one victim and one aggressor. that is of course not to say that there are always two parties, there may be multiple aggressors acting on a single person. or a single aggressor against multiple victims. bullying is at its worst when there are many aggressors against few victims as the berating from multiple people can take an unpleasant toll on the victims psyche.
Effects?
Bullying can affect any and everyone. bullying comes with a whole grocery list of negatives outcomes. it can have drastic effects on mental health and can lead to drug and alcohol abuse as well as suicide. it is incredibly important to talk to children to know if bullying is causing them trouble. bullying has been known to cause depression, anxiety, feeling of isolation or alienation, disrupted sleep and/or eating patterns, etc.
P.O.V.
Kids can become bullies for many reasons, not all of which are malicious. some kids aren't receiving enough attention from their parents and lashes out as a result. if a child is pestered by a sibling against which they feel powerless it could lead them to pick on someone they deem weaker than themselves. a role model i n the child's life could be a bully including family, teachers, associates of their parents. bullies tend to dominate other kids, using them and blaming them. lacking in empathy they have contempt for weaker individuals.
Physical
physical bulling comes in a few variations. it can be willful and deliberate attacking of another student as in beating or hitting etc. it could be instances of things like knocking books out of someones hand or stealing their bags. this form of bullying has the most severe short term consequences in that it causes physical harm to the victim party in the situation.
Verbal
verbal bullying is the use of words in a harassing manner. such as insults or emotional abuse. this particular type of bullying is most damaging to someone's emotional constitution. it can have much longer lasting effects on the victim. verbal doesn't entail any kind of physical altercations.
Cyber
cyberbullying much like verbal bullying doesn't have to involve physical contact. though unlike verbal bullying it can take place over great distance. cyberbullying is the most prevalent form of bullying in the modern world. with the rise of social media kids have taken to the internet for harassment. this form of bullying is by far the most avoidable however many victims don't take measures to prevent her.
Other
while these are the three types of bullying they don't always follow the same patterns. bullying is a problem that while has been lessened over time is still in our world. it does still have a very real effect on those victimized by it. bullying isn't always easy to spot nor are its effects on those affected.
Defense
there are several ways one might combat bullying. methods such as walking away can be useful but aren't always viable. sometimes one must stand up to their bully and confront the actions they've taken. sometimes it may be advantageous to talk to or attempt to understand the bully and why they act the way they do. as for solutions to cyberbullying the best possible solution is simply to turn off the device or even simply block the person making the harassing comments towards the victim.