Has Bullying Become More Intense?

[rocklobster]

I was wondering something: is it just me or has bullying become more intense these days? I can't really use my past as a judge because I wasn't really bullied all that much. Oh sure, I got picked on and teased, but I don't think that's the same thing. (to me, if your friends don't tease you every once in a while, they aren't really friends) I mean, I hear all those stories of kids committing suicide because of bullying and I wonder why that wasn't going on when I was a kid.

[Atria35]

I feel that we're just more aware of it. A lot of people in my family seem to have been victims of bullying, and back 50 years ago, the mentality was that you just dealt with it. There was also a lot of institutionalized bullying that was considered perfectly acceptable - for instance, my aunt was left-handed, and her teacher hit the left hands of all those kids. One day she hit my aunt's hand so hard that her finger nearly broke, and that was considered okay by the school board (my grandma and grandpa, not so much. Grandpa was a six foot tall wrestler, and warned the teacher never to do it again). That would never be considered okay today.

It also seems that a lot of social behaviours that were not acceptable back then have become so- just look at how people treat those in minimum-wage jobs. I'm not saying that those in minimum-wage jobs were always treated the best back then, but you didn't have things like cursing out the burger flippers in public. And that means that those who bully feel a lot more free to do so, because when teachers have the parents of the bullies coming in and saying that their darling angels would never do that and cussing them out and even threatening violence, then the teachers start feeling that their hands are tied.

[Midori]

From what I hear, bullying used to be more physical, involving at times actual violence. Nowadays it's usually psychological; finding the one thing that drives the victim crazy and doing that incessantly. Doesn't mean it's any easier to deal with though.

[CrimsonRyu17]

[quote="Midori (post: 1431011)"]From what I hear, bullying used to be more physical, involving at times actual violence. Nowadays it's usually psychological]

Pretty much this. I was bullied a lot when I was in school. I was kicked, shoved, yelled at with threats. One time my right arm was grabbed and twisted behind my back that fortunately left no serious injury.

Nowadays all I hear is not violence, but psychological things going on. This may be because bullying has been made more aware of and you can be sent to detention/suspended if you kick someone. However, if you call someone names while a teacher isn't listening, you're free to do so.

[Ella Edric]

I could be wrong, but from what i can see things are worse. As morailty in this world gets worse and worse, it seems there are more bullies. Again, i could be wrong, but thats jusy my view on the subject.

[Lilac#18]

[color="Plum"]I agree with you Ella, it does seem worse to me too and I could be wrong with this too.[/color]

[ShiroiHikari]

It might be a little bit of both.

Word gets around fast nowadays, which makes it seem like more bad things happen, but really it's just that communication has gotten more efficient, and more widespread.

However, bullying has also become quite different. You can't get away with just giving someone a pounding anymore, which I would consider a much more straightforward (but not necessarily better, mind you) way of bullying someone around. Nowadays, you have to be sneakier so you don't get caught, and that's where things like verbal assault and cyber bullying come into play. For some people, that psychological type of bullying is far more damaging than getting a punch in the face. A punch in the face can heal relatively quickly. But words can scar you for life.

[CrimsonRyu17]

I could be wrong with this too.

And both of you are. Bullying was the norm back in the day and the authorities in the school did nothing about it. You either attempted to defend yourself an got punished for it or just took it.

Now we have awareness and things are being done about it. How could morality have decreased if at first people just turned a blind-eye on it and now people are fighting against it? Even just recently the It Gets Better project has been trying to prevent children and teens (specifically gays) from committing suicide because of bullying. You would have NEVER seen anything like this going on back then.

[Cognitive Gear]

Much like many other moral issues, it's not that it's gotten worse, it's that we've become more aware of it.

After all, it's only recently that we have started to look at bullying as a real problem. In days past, it was just "part of life". Now that we've recognized it as a problem, we have all sorts of bully-prevention techniques, and are actually listening to the kids who are bullied.

As far as bullying related deaths,there is a recorded case as early as 1825.

[Syreth]

Not necessarily more intense. Just different, as Midori pointed out. It seems like ever since school shootings started happening, bullying has gotten a lot more press. The psychological nature of bullying today might have something to do with the way victims of bullying, or even the bullies themselves, are acting out.

[armeck]

we are more aware of it, but as technology increases people often feel less of a need for close bounds with others and they do less to make close ties with people, so yes i think it is getting worse

[CrimsonRyu17]

we are more aware of it, but as technology increases people often feel less of a need for close bounds with others and they do less to make close ties with people, so yes i think it is getting worse

Do care to explain this fully because that made absolutely no sense at all to me.

[armeck]

well first off i should correct my spelling and say technology is causing people to not feel like they need close BONDS not bounds, lol, in some ways i see that technology drives people apart, people will say things on the internet they would never say to someones face, but then, people get in a habbit of being rude, and then they start saying hateful things even in person... just a thought anyway, besides, if you take a look at america, (idk where you are from so this may not relate to you) it used to be... moral, it really was a christian country. but it doesn't feel that way anymore, it is going secular, it isn't the same place out grandparents grew up in, so idk really the cause, but in the end, america does seem to be getting worse...

[mechana2015]

it used to be... moral, it really was a christian country. but it doesn't feel that way anymore, it is going secular, it isn't the same place out grandparents grew up in, so idk really the cause, but in the end, america does seem to be getting worse...

If you count treating all the black people and women as second class citizens, or not citizens at all as behaving in a christian and moral manner... I guess you could say that.

[armeck]

hey, take a look at movies for example stuff in theaters now is stuff that people would have rioted over 60 years ago...

[Wind]

I believe bullying has become more prevalent because it happens not just among kids these days but it can happen among adults more often of late.

[mechana2015]

hey, take a look at movies for example stuff in theaters now is stuff that people would have rioted over 60 years ago...

[sarcasm]Nice to know that morality is entirely determined by public entertainment.[/sarcasm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation <<1915 - didn't cause riots. I think lynchings were public entertainment up through the 20's and 30's in some states too. Nowadays there would probably be riots if Birth of a Nation was remade and shown in theaters.

More on topic, denial of access to schools and other bullying based on race was institutionalized and it took the national guard and a Supreme Court judgment to even put a crack in that treatment, and that was in the 1950's. I think we have just started to actually qualify more things as bullying and, combining that with higher levels of awareness have suddenly realized that there is widespread bullying. It used to be that kids that got teased were told to 'suck it up' or 'toughen up' rather than trying to act against the bullies.

[Roy Mustang]

Bullying hasn't got worst, we are just more aware of it. We live in a fast pace of technology and the world gets out faster now then it did back then.

Back in the day, bullying wasn't just at school, but kids stealing other kids milk money on the way to school. Today its more of a psychological game then violence.

Like CrimsonRyu17, I was bullied a lot as well and was beat up, kick and had threats of being beat up by someone. In those days, you defend yourself and got punished for it or just took it. I defended myself and did hit a bully back, when I was little and after that, I was never bullied again. Do I look at now as the right thing to do, not really. But on those days, that is what you had to do and it just took one hit from me as I stood up to him and he stop.

Now a days, it a psychological game and most of the violence that happens is, when the kid that is being bullied snaps. Since this has happen, the media and families know more about it today about bullying and how to stop it.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[ShiroiHikari]

<tangent>

This might make me sound like an ageist jerk and/or a curmudgeon, but I think the reason some of you think the world is worse today than it was in your grandpa's day is because you are young. When you're still learning how the world works, it's easy to get your rosy glasses of youth shattered. To you, the world IS worse than it used to be because when you are a child, you're often sheltered from all the really bad things that happen in life. I advise you to read up on past eras-- we have it FAR better than our forefathers did in many, many ways.

</tangent>

Back on topic, I think bullying has always been happening among adults, it's just that a lot of adults were taught to "shut up and deal", so we don't hear about it. Just look at spousal abuse. If that's not bullying then I don't know what is.

[Lilac#18]

And both of you are. Bullying was the norm back in the day and the authorities in the school did nothing about it. You either attempted to defend yourself an got punished for it or just took it.

Now we have awareness and things are being done about it. How could morality have decreased if at first people just turned a blind-eye on it and now people are fighting against it? Even just recently the It Gets Better project has been trying to prevent children and teens (specifically gays) from committing suicide because of bullying. You would have NEVER seen anything like this going on back then.

[color="Plum"]Oh yeah, you're right. Now that I think about. Authorities didn't do anything back then.[/color]

[Htom Sirveaux]

I think bullying has always been happening among adults, it's just that a lot of adults were taught to "shut up and deal", so we don't hear about it. Just look at spousal abuse. If that's not bullying then I don't know what is.

True. Bullying happens among adults. We just have lots of different ways and different words for it.

Bullying among children has been brought to the foreground of people's attention in recent years. But it intensifies with age. Name-calling and after-school scraps are just practice for the great big world of adulthood.

[armeck]

<tangent>

This might make me sound like an ageist jerk and/or a curmudgeon, but I think the reason some of you think the world is worse today than it was in your grandpa's day is because you are young. When you're still learning how the world works, it's easy to get your rosy glasses of youth shattered. To you, the world IS worse than it used to be because when you are a child, you're often sheltered from all the really bad things that happen in life. I advise you to read up on past eras-- we have it FAR better than our forefathers did in many, many ways.

</tangent>

is this "tangent" directed at me? lol, the idea the that world was worse when my grandpa was my age came from my grandpa, i used to think the world was better now that what it used to be, but not anymore, i have seen quite a bit of the world and i can tell you, it's a very terrible place, walt disney would beg to differ with me, but living in a fantasy world isn't going to help anyone. there was no "shattering" of the way i saw the world, i've been seeing things that send most people into shock since i was born.. i have always thought this world was a terrible place, and i believe it is more and more every day. if this "tangent" was not directed at me, i'm going to feel like a jerk and i'm REALLY sorry!

[ShiroiHikari]

Clearly you didn't listen to a word I said...

[armeck]

i did listen to a word i said, your not listening to me, there were not i never had "rosy colored glasses" that was the point of my post, i have done MUCH reading on past times, and yes the world has had worse times, but it has also had better times...

[Lynna]

Wow...calm down people!
I would tend to agree that bullying has just changed. Though I can't really say for schools, because our school is small and the teachers are good peopl;e, so most of them seem to catch the worser bullying pretty quick. My friends have pretty bad stories of beeing bullied, but it was mostly verbal bullying rather than physical.
To me, the world is just changing, and when it gets better in some areas, it gets worse in others
Someone mentioned the internet and such ruining peoples bonds...that mightbe true in a lot of cases, but I have a lot of friends online that I would never met otherwise

[armeck]

i think you and me agree perfectly, and you did a WAY better job of giving that opinion! thank you...

[Nate]

So am I one of the only people that thinks that slowly, things are getting BETTER every day?

Also, in answer to the original question, I suppose it depends on how you define "intense." To me, psychological scars are deeper than physical ones, and seeing as how there's less "I'm going to punch you and take your lunch money" and more name-calling and exclusion, I'm going to say yes, by my definition, it has become more intense.

[Lynna]

@armeck If you're talking to me...then thanks ^_^
@ Nate I think a lot of things are getting better, but then now problems pop up to replace the old.

[Nate]

Oh I absolutely agree that new problems pop up to replace the old. However, we are living in fantastic times. People of different skin colors are (mostly) allowed to walk the streets without fear of being lynched just for their skin color, women are free to be people rather than second-class citizens, we can travel long distances relatively easily, we have cured many diseases that were devastatingly deadly in the past (like polio), if you are separated from someone you love, you can call them from almost anywhere and speak to them almost immediately...

Really, these are truly amazing and wonderful times, for human life, and for human freedom. And from what I see, the future only looks brighter. Yes, we have lots of problems, and there's still a long way to go before we're truly what we should be as a society, but we're closer now than we've ever been.

[CrimsonRyu17]

So am I one of the only people that thinks that slowly, things are getting BETTER every day?

Nope, I'm with ya there.