What Is Bullying

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that

involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or
has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and
who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and

include:

 An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as

physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—
to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time
and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
 Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the
potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors,

attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a
group on purpose. Bullying can be done individually or by a group,
called mobbing,[4] in which the bully may have one or more followers who are
willing to assist the primary bully or who reinforce the bully by providing positive
feedback such as laughing.[5] Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred
to as "peer abuse".

A bullying culture can develop in any context in which humans interact with each
other. This may include school, family, the workplace,[10] the home, and
neighborhoods. The main platform for bullying in contemporary culture is on
social media websites.[11][dubious – discuss] In a 2012 study of male adolescent American
football players, "the strongest predictor [of bullying] was the perception of
whether the most influential male in a player's life would approve of the bullying
behavior."[12] A study by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in 2019 showed a
relationship between social media use by girls and an increase in their exposure to
bullying
Types of Bullying
There are three types of bullying:

 Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:

o Teasing

o Name-calling

o Inappropriate sexual comments

o Taunting

o Threatening to cause harm

 Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves
hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
o Leaving someone out on purpose

o Telling other children not to be friends with someone

o Spreading rumors about someone

o Embarrassing someone in public

 Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical
bullying includes:
o Hitting/kicking/pinching

o Spitting

o Tripping/pushing

o Taking or breaking someone’s things

o Making mean or rude hand gestures

What Are the Effects of Bullying?
Bullies often pick on people over and over again. This can make teens:

 feel afraid, stressed, depressed, or anxious

 have thoughts about suicide or hurting themselves
 have trouble with their schoolwork
 have problems with mood, energy level, sleep, and appetite

Bullying can affect your mental health whatever your age. It can lead
to loneliness, anxiety and depression in children. People who are bullied in the
workplace have a higher risk of experiencing depression and having suicidal
thoughts.

What Kind of People Are Bullies?

Both guys and girls can be bullies. Bullies may be:

 outgoing and aggressive. This kind of bully might make fun of you to your
face or physically hurt you.
 quiet and sneaky. This kind of bully might try to manipulate in secret. They
might anonymously start a damaging rumor just to see what happens.
 friendly and fake. This kind of bully might pretend to be your friend so that
you tell them things, but then do hurtful things behind your back.

Many bullies are a lot alike. They:

 like to be in control of others

 are focused on themselves
 have poor social skills and have a hard time getting along with people
 might not care about people, or lack empathy
 are often insecure and bully others to make themselves feel better

Some bullies don't understand normal social emotions like guilt, empathy,
compassion, or remorse. These people need help from a mental health
professional like a counselor, social worker, psychiatrist, or psychologist.
What Can I Do?
There are many things that you can do if you're being bullied or know someone
who is. You can:

Tell a trusted adult. Adults in positions of authority, like parents, teachers, or

coaches, often can deal with bullying without the bully ever learning how they
found out about it. It's vital to report bullying if it threatens to lead to physical
danger and harm. Stalking, making threats, and physical attacks are very serious
and when they're not reported, they give the bully license to become more and
more violent.
Ignore the bully and walk away. Bullies like getting a reaction. If you walk away or
ignore them, you're telling them that you don't care.
Don't get physical. You're more likely to be hurt and get into trouble if you try to
fight a bully. Work out your anger in another way, such as exercising or writing it
down (make sure you delete or tear up any emails, posts, letters, or notes you
write in anger).
Try to talk to the bully. Try to point out that their behavior is serious and harmful.
This can work well if you notice that a member of your own group has started to
pick on or shun another member.
Talk about it. It may help to talk to a guidance counselor, teacher, or friend —
anyone who can give you the support you need. Talking can be a good outlet for
the fears and frustrations that can build when you're being bullied.
Find your (true) friends. If you've been bullied with rumors or gossip, tell your
friends so that they can help you feel safe and secure. Avoid being alone,
especially when the bullying is happening a lot.
Stand up for friends and others you see being bullied. Your actions help the
victim feel supported and may stop the bullying.
Join your school's bullying or violence prevention programs. Peer mediation is
another way you may be able to work things out with a bully. If your school
doesn't have these programs, start one of your own.
What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on
social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is
repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are
targeted. Examples include:

 spreading lies about or posting embarrassing photos or videos of someone

on social media
 sending hurtful, abusive or threatening messages, images or videos via
messaging platforms
 impersonating someone and sending mean messages to others on their
behalf or through fake accounts.

Face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying can often happen alongside each other.
But cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and
provide evidence to help stop the abuse.

When bullying happens online it can feel as if you’re being attacked everywhere,
even inside your own home. It can seem like there’s no escape. The effects can
last a long time and affect a person in many ways:

 Mentally – feeling upset, embarrassed, stupid, even afraid or angry

 Emotionally – feeling ashamed or losing interest in the things you love
 Physically – tired (loss of sleep), or experiencing symptoms like stomach
aches and headaches

The feeling of being laughed at or harassed by others, can prevent people from
speaking up or trying to deal with the problem. In extreme cases, cyberbullying
can even lead to people taking their own lives.

Cyberbullying can affect us in many ways. But these can be overcome and people
can regain their confidence and health.