Bullying is a thing that can be dated back to when time started. It is something most of us experience despite being the bully or the bullied. However, in stories of bullying today, they have an added variable. Bullying is no longer a thing that only happens physically; bullying happens on the different social media platforms we use every day. It also happens when our youth play video games. Bullying has evolved and this new age bully is hard to tackle.
As we know, social media allows us to be whoever we want to be. The same philosophy applies to our youth who are on either end of the spectrum. The bully can create different “people” to bully their victim; the bullied can create as many profiles they want to portray their “fixed” flaws. It all becomes unhealthy and the question then becomes: how can we control this virus? It becomes a virus because it has changed the way social media is used. It is the first method used to cry for help or a way to add fuel to the fire. There are things that a bully would say through a comment, dm, or inbox but would never say something to a persons face. It causes people to feel low because you would never know who said something; it could make a person feel superior because they are this infamous “savage.”
However, can we blame social media for emphasizing the things that we watch? Or the games we play? I think this is where the parent evolvement, and the community, should come into play. While we all use social media, we have to begin to offer different outlets to allow our youth to come together and learn one another more, outside of what they portray on social media. If there are various opportunities for them to get involved with and it being within the community, they stay busy. Doing things they are interested in and there would not be any time to bully or be bullied. They would begin to learn about one another on a different level and more bonds will be made, instead of beef.
Do you think this new bullying can be controlled? Or, is this something that we can only monitor and hope it gets better? Comment and let us know what you think?
Alex Alford
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