Bullying: a Serious Problem that Needs to Be Fought Against

Have you ever bullied or been bullied? If you have, then you should know how bullying feels like. Bullying is atrocious, it creates major problems for our society. I believe bullying should not continue its treacherous path. Nothing good comes out of bullying, it could very well change or ruin a person's life. Kids can be mentally scarred if they are teased often. Even worse, they could be killed or fatally injured if the bullying gets extreme. As the world is growing larger and larger by the minute so is bullying, there are now different ways people are bullying each other, from verbal to physical bullying. Bullying has many effects such as social stress and loss of physical health. I feel sad when I see people physically, mentally, socially and emotionally injured and the number of suicides that are taken place every year just from bullying. As a student and a person who has seen bullying take place, I say, we should take a stand against this cruel torture, us as a community should fight for what is right.

The physical impact of bullying has been extremely devastating. It can contribute to the development of heart problems because of the high level of stress the body is constantly under. While bullying has a serious impact on mental well-being, with victims more prone to anxiety, low mood, disturbed sleep, reduced confidence and problems with low self-esteem, bullying can also trigger a range of physical health problems. From aches and pains to increased susceptibility to infections and digestive issues, experiencing harassment at school or work can leave you more vulnerable to severe health problems. According to a Victorian University PDF 37% of young people aged 16 to 24 have experienced some form of bullying and 65% of those victims ignore the bullying while the rest 35% fight back. The amount of physical stress bullying puts you under is extremely high. Exposure to stress triggers a series of physical changes within your body, known as the fight-flight response, designed to protect you from danger. In its simplest terms, when your brain recognizes a stressful situation, it stimulates the release of a hormone that encourages your kidneys to release epinephrine (Adrenaline). This then triggers the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which raises your blood pressure and pulse, increases your blood sugar levels and prepares your muscles for action. While these changes are effective at protecting us from danger, when triggered daily due to bullying, this is bad news for us and explains the physical effects experienced by victims. Let’s stop this madness, let’s stop this injustice, let’s take a stand to what is right.

Being bullied can severely affect a child’s or teen's self-image, social interactions, or school performance, and can lead to mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Signs that a child is being bullied may be physical, emotional, behavioural, social, or academic. It is devastating when I see children suffering day after day hopelessly. Dr Andre Sourander, a professor of child psychiatry at the University of Turku in Finland, reported that children who are bullied in early childhood have an increased risk of depressive disorders and need psychiatric treatment later in life. Evidence suggests that the highest risk of suicide death occurs in children ages 10-14, for middle school students, 24% are cyberbullied and 45% are bullied on school property. Data on high school students indicates 15.5% are cyberbullied and 20.2% are bullied on school property. Students who are bullied are 2.2 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide than students not bullied and girls who experience school bullying at ages 8 and up were at significantly greater risk for suicidal deaths than boys. These shocking results are what something as small as a single word could do to somebody or age.

Many different types of bullying can be experienced by children and adults, some are obvious to spot while others can be more subtle. Bullying behaviour has been continuously changing over the years. Different forms of bullying have emerged and they continue to develop and be used in the schools. Technology has played a very big role in the evolution of bullying. The main types of bullying people experience are physical, verbal, social, and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the latest and most commonly used form of bullying in the schools today. It continues to evolve with the changes in technology. It uses text messages, emails and various posts on websites as a way of bullying. Studies show approximately one in four, from Year 4 to Year 9 Australian students (27%) are reported being bullied every few weeks in a national study in 2009 since that was 11 years ago the numbers would have increased exponentially since then. 72% of schools reported managing at least one incident of online bullying in 2008. If we keep this up, there would be at least 20 more ways on bullying and all suicidal, physical and mental deaths would happen because of bullying. If we don’t take a stand, then let’s just say that humans are going to make their species extinct.

Bullying is a serious issue that is affecting very many children in schools and has been going on for a very long time now. Anti-bully laws can help eliminate bullying, these laws can also place more responsibility and give the teachers and school administrators more authority to stop the behaviour and deal with the bullies. We need to ban bullying in schools. Parents can also monitor the behaviour of their children especially when they are using the internet. Words can be deadly weapons. Bullying needs to stop. Bullying can cause a kid to deal with depression, anxiety, or even lead to suicide. The parents must constantly preach their children about not bullying anyone and how it is wrong. Hence, if we, as a society need to grow and develop then we have to collectively work towards discouraging the act of bullying and make our children feel secure. In conclusion, if everyone stands up against bullying, everyone including the adults will prosper from this change. Bullying is not a crime it is murder, every time you see someone bullying someone else you are seeing people dying. We either act now or never.