Witnessed in many forms, bullying has been faced by each one of us in our early childhood, something which is so mean, ignorant and sometimes evil intentioned. But less received is the information that with the passage of time, bullying has conquered the online platforms rather than limiting itself to the traditional school backyard. Cyber Bullying has germinated with marking a statistic of one out of five parents saying world wide that their child has experienced cyber bullying. The situation in India is getting worse when is comes to this as a tally of 37% of parents across India confirm that their children were bullied online, with 14% of that total saying the bullying occurred on a regular basis.
Thankfully there is no such sharp statistics to support the narrative of the number of female bullies versus the male bullies beyond school level, although generally bullies are more towards males. However, a research published in the Development and Learning Journal finds that 70 percent of female executives feel they’ve been bullied by other women in their workplaces and that these bullying incidents have stunted their professional growth. October Bullying Prevention Month reaffirms that parents, school, teachers, society, administrators; reconfirm their major role against the evil custom of bullying.
Reasons:
A higher percentage of male than of female students reported being physically bullied (6% vs. 4%), whereas a higher percentage of female than of male students reported being the subjects of rumours (18% vs. 9%) and being excluded from activities on purpose (7% vs. 4%). Of those students who reported being bullied, 13% were made fun of, called names, or insulted; 13% were the subject of rumours; 5% were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spat on; and 5% were excluded from activities on purpose The reason for bullying being prevalent could be differences in individuals on account of their traits, mental abilities, class status, financial status, disability, appearance, sexual orientation et cetera.
Effect:
As a result of bullying, school students experience increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, disbursal of social circles, lower academic achievement, and a gradual shift over other abuses in addition to poorly rotting of confidence and self-esteem. This gradually makes their mental health deteriorate, especially if not counselled well on time. On the contrary, youngster’s self-blame and conclude that they deserved to be bullied. They accept such treatment understating themselves which, as a consequence, makes them prone to unwanted states like depression, prolonged victimization, and maladjustment. This hinders their growth on the part of the professional and personal front. And out of experience, takes valuable years of their life to come out of it. This has even an adverse effect on the part of their relationship with families, friends and other social circles. Self-doubt, the most destructive termite, starts eating them from inside.
Interventions:
Actions aimed at changing the behaviour of the bullies in their youth (counselling, getting back at them, telling them to stop, etc.) should be initiated and mandated. We must accept and embrace the differences existing in the society. It is more receptive when you walk together with differences being acknowledged in entirety. Students who face such threats, must approach their parents, teachers or elder siblings and in return the approached party should open arms for them with care and affection. They should be made to perceive their difference/ deficiency/ disability as their strength and tap into the opportunities which are waiting for them outside the world of earthling differences. Even in the corporate spaces, strict code of conduct should be laid down for each one of the working staff to respect each other and allow more free space to build their own castle of creativity with their abilities and ambitions. A healthy work environment is the key to success on the both the part of employee and employer of an organization.
If you ever become a victim of bullying, reach out to people, discuss with them in entirety instead of keeping it all within. Today, nearly at every Institutional level, there have been Counselling cells established, reach out to them for help. You can even reach out to National Bullying prevention Centre for the concern you deserve.
Address-
Minneapolis Office: PACER Centre, Inc. 8161 Normandale Blvd. Bloomington, MN 55437 Get Directions
Los Angeles Office: PACER's National Bullying Prevention Centre 80 E. Hillcrest Drive, #203 Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Phone-
952.838.9000 or 800.537.2237 Fax: 952.838.0199
Email: Bullying411@pacer.org
Social Media-
Reference:
Author-
Antisha Nigam
antishanigam73@gmail.com
On paper, a final year student majoring in Finance and minoring in Economics, from the University of Delhi. In person, a wild species, who is currently struggling for the answers to "Why" rather than "What" and "How". One can always reach out to me for a ceaseless conversation over platter of Food, Finance and a cup of hot poetries. Till then, keep inhaling oxygen.
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