Bullying is Escalating
By:- Revant Mohanasundaram
What a teen faces:
Tyler Clementi, an 18- year-old pupil at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New
Jersey jumped from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. Dharun Ravi, his roommate hid a webcam in his room to view what Clementi is doing with another man. Clementi was in a sexual relationship with a man. The day previous to the suicide, the roommate allegedly prompted peers and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a tryst between Clementi and his friend. Clementi's death brought public and transnational attention to the issue of cyberbullying and the struggles facing LGBT youth. To address what Tyler faced, Tami Pivnick filmed “Bullied to Silence”, a documentary showing what he face. (https://tylerclementi.org/tylers-story/ ). Due to Clementi’s death, people started a foundation to help other people who faced what Clementi faced.
Bullying is on the increase:
Clementi committed suicide because of cyberbullying. But, he is not alone. Students have been depressed due to one main reason, bullying. Schools, Governments, Parents, and Foundations have been trying to fix this big extremity. Every 7 minutes a child is being bullied according to the survey from 2015, currently, more than 10 children are bullied every 7 minutes. (https://www.nveee.org/statistics ). There are more than 3.2 million children who have suffered from some kind of bullying. In the 3.2 million children more than 160,000 children aren't going to school because they were bullied,(https://www.whyinc.org/bullying-facts-statistics. ) According to l1ght, during the time of COVID-19, there was a 900% increase in hate speech on Twitter directed towards China and the Chinese, a 200% increase in traffic to hate sites, and specific posts against Asians, a 70% increase in hate between kids and teens during online chats, a 40% increase in toxicity on popular gaming platforms, such as Discord. What is everyone doing so wrong that's increasing the rate of bullying? There's a lot of danger after a kid has been bullied, According to the annual bullying survey held in 2015: 30% of the victims have had suicidal thoughts, 29% have self-harmed, 27% have truanted, 14% have abused drugs, and/ or alcohol, 14% developed an eating disorder, 13% developed anti-social behaviors, 12% ran away from home and 6% have engaged in risky, unprotected sex. (https://l1ght.com/Toxicity_during_coronavirus_Report-L1ght.pdf ). Are parents the problem? Is giving punishments the cause of the increase? Is stress making the children bully each other?
What is the cause?
Many might suppose social media is the cause of being bullied, but there are a lot more reasons. Kids raised by very harsh parents are more likely to either become bullies or to become the victims of bullies (Indian public media). Kids who are the least likely to be bullies, or to be bullied, are those with parents who are generally warm and responsive, and who provide some freedom but also set clear boundaries. The research is significant insofar as it shows that bullying is a learned behavior and that bullying can be curbed by effective parenthood. A Central Middle School Student Vishnu Vignesh Rangapuram Venkatesh suggested that, “ Giving punishments to a bully will still increase his anger which will make him bully more people”. Julie A Patock-Peckham suggests that “ If you don't wish to raise a bully, don't bully your own kid”(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/harsh-parents-raise-bullies-so-do-permissive-ones/ ). Both the suggestions show that being aggressive will still increase the rate of bullying. The major part of bullying is verbal bullying which can be through social media and also when a child is at school. The most gallant type of bullying is cyberbullying. Due to cyberbullying Riley Basford a 15- year-old sophomore committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun due to cyberbullying. Children and parents need to understand that words have a lot of meaning, and each word you say to others goes deep into their minds. Being bullied is like losing a leg in an accident, many people can work with it, but many go into a deep depression which might cause them to think of commiting suicide. Parents report that their child is feeling depressed even though the child was bullied a few years ago.
Parents and Bullying:
Who/What is the problem? Many experts suggest that our society and its pace and priorities are the problems. Are adults failing to recognize how children feel? The average amount of time university-educated moms spend with their children is 120 minutes a day in America. The average amount of time university-educated dads spend with their children is just 85 minutes a day. Non-university educated parents spend about 20% less time a day with their children than university-educated parents(ourworldindata.org). What is going on here? With 24 hours in a day, how can parents be spending, on average, so little time with their under-13-year-old children? Spending less time with their child causes their children to not be open with their parents. Parents can’t identify if their child was bullied unless they talk to their child. There are a few parents on quora who are stating that bullying teaches them life lessons and if you interrupt them they will never learn.
What are the states doing?
To take action NJ has created an Anti-Bullying law, in September 2011, the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights took effect. The law requires schools to prevent, report, investigate, and respond to bullying. The law also requires training for teachers, school staff, and school board members. School districts must have district anti-bullying coordinators, school anti-bullying specialists, and school safety teams (which includes a parent of a student). Every year, school districts must report bullying incidents to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE). The NJDOE gives each school district and each school in the district a grade on how the school district or school is carrying out the requirements of the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. School districts are required to post the report and the grade their schools have received on their website (nj.gov). New Jersey schools reported a 9 percent decrease in bullying incidents for the 2013-2014 school year, according to a state Department of Education. Few experts suggest that the Electronic Violence and Vandalism Reporting System relies entirely on self-reported data and the possibility that administrators at different schools may not be defining the same kinds of behavior as “bullying”.
Solutions:
There are multiple solutions, but most don’t know about them. As an adult in a community, it is really important to look after every child. First, understanding what bullying is and what it is not is critical in forming bullying prevention strategies. It is also good to know what your state’s laws are about bullying. Some laws, such as in NJ anti-bullying law, cover community organizations as well as schools. Utilize the community action planning toolkit to host anti-bullying events in your community and develop a comprehensive strategy for bullying prevention. As parents, it is a must to recognize the warning signs that your child is involved in bullying. They could be bullied, bullying others, or witnessing bullying. Although these signs could signal other issues, one should talk to their children if they display any sort of behavioral or emotional changes. Many times kids won’t ask for help, so it is important to know what to look for. If your child is at immediate risk of harming himself or others, get help right away. Before you bully someone just think about how the victim will feel, feel empathy towards the victim.