The Importance of Being Aware About Bullying

As Meyer-Adams & Conner (2008) said, “Bullying is continued harassment though acts of domination towards another person, either through physical or emotional abuse.” Bullying events have been an everlasting problem with teenagers. With the many new developments, bullying can be done online and through social media. Bullying is an awful activity that occurs in many locations, like schools, workplaces, and even homes. There are many different types of bullying around the world, each with their causes, such as a lack of parental guidance, low self-esteem, and even the influence of one’s peers, all of which could result in pessimistic outcomes, like murder or suicide.

Parents who don’t set limits and who don’t discipline their young children may be setting the stage for bullying behavior. From the moment kids must be born parents give them guidance on how to work with others and be kind to others. Not providing parental guidance at an early age can fail to teach kids expectations about their behavior. This shows that the children may not be aware of what is and isn’t right when interacting with others. Also, if parents are uninvolved with a child’s activities and don’t spend adequate time interacting with and supervising the child, this can lead to the results of a missed opportunity for everyone. This goes more in-depth showing that the child misses out on quality time and learning from the example of others. Parents who are involved set an example for their kids to be there for others and to interact with others.

To begin with, bullying can affect physical and emotional health, both in the short term and later in life. It can lead to physical injury, social problems, emotional problems, and even death. Those who are bullied are at increased risk for mental health problems, headaches, and problems adjusting to school. Bullying also can cause long-term damage to self-esteem. Having self-esteems begin with bullying affecting lives because those who bully them makes them believe that they are in the wrong even if there’s not an explanation for it. It’s a constant doubt that makes them believe they are worthless. Through history, people saw bullying as just kids playing around until it started to get more serious by people killing themselves. “Through much of history, teachers, principals, and parents turned a blind eye, often believing “boys will be boys” believing that boys will boys made all 50 states have anti-bullying laws because kids started feeling like they weren’t good enough or because at a certain point they were embarrassed by their peers.

To continue a recent study shows that 50% of suicides cases amongst the younger generation are related to bullying. Suicidal thoughts are the most severe effects of bullying. Many young children and adults alike have taken their lives because of being traumatically bullied in school. But the thing is not only American teens that are ending their lives because of bullying there many different parts of the world were kids are ending their lives due to bullying. For example, in Japan, the suicide rate just keeps going up because of the pressure that is being put to teens. Teens in Japan no longer want to go to school because of the type of bullying that they receive. “In 2010, the eighteen-year-old Rutgers University freshman committed suicide by jumping off the George Washing Bridge, just two weeks after he started his first semester in college” no student should have to go through this on their first semester of college. Is very important that colleges from the beginning they make students interact with each other before putting them to dorm together. The United States could not provide more attention to those who are suffering nowadays college tuition is more important rather than teens’ mental health.

Furthermore, peer pressure can negatively affect bullying behavior. The impact of negative peer pressure can create an environment where kids are intimidated to speak out on of someone being hurt or harmed in any way. “Things escalated after he reported another student for carrying a knife and threating a teacher. Rather than being regarded as a hero by his classmates, he was derided as a snitch” individuals are sometimes forced to stay quiet due to being scared that others are going to make fun of them for being the snitch one. Bystander intervention is really important because that means you can save someone’s life. But if a bystander laughs when someone is being attacked or bullied this shows supports for the person that is being the bully. Peer pressure can be a major reason why kids bully nowadays. Sometimes teens feel an inner pressure to do things their peers are doing. For example, some teens will participate in sexing just because they think everyone else is doing it. This causes kids to do things they would not do with the hope of fitting in. Wanting to fit in can lead to doing things to others that are not okay to do.

Besides, most of us have heard about the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me “with so many technology advancements that have been happening through the years this saying is no longer true. Many kids are being bullied through the internet and some parents aren’t aware of that. Kids that are being victimized through cyberbullying might feel like there is no escape from it because it’s obvious that it stays there for the rest of the world to see. “The suicide came days after his roommate used a webcam to spy on Clementi during an intimate encounter with a man in his room” it’s proven that cyberbullying can leave kids with a bigger risk on committing suicide. Many kids now days are beaten to death due to bullying and somehow the guilty ones always get an escape just because “They are kids” which is the reason why is affecting how kids carry themselves nowadays.

Besides, I can say that being bullied affected my life tremendously, going through what I went it wasn’t something easy to overcome. I remember everything like it was yesterday and it breaks my heart just to know that at a certain point in my life I had the lowest self-esteem because I was bullied. When I was in middle school I was bullied by a group of girls and boys. The group of individuals was in a higher grade than I was, but we all sat next to each other because that’s how the tables were sat up in lunch. I remember when everything started and that was when I was walking to get my lunch and by accident, I bump into one of the girls and they thought I did it on purpose which I didn’t because I apologized. After that day I would walk by them and they would make fun of my shoes or the way I looked. I started feeling like the way I looked wasn’t good enough, therefore, every time we had lunch I would go to the bathroom and fix myself. I started eating less and less because I believed everything, they were saying about me. They would tell other students not to be my friend and I remember that I had a performance to do, I had practiced, and they would all go and seat and watch me perform and they would laugh. I reached out to my parents but since they are Hispanic, they don’t believe much in bullying. Their response was mature and whatever they do to you just do it back technically telling me to defend myself. This is a situation where many kids go through nowadays where they reach out to parents and they don’t do anything about it.

In conclusion, bullying events have been an everlasting problem with teenagers. As the study shows that 50% of suicides cases amongst the younger generation are related to bullying. Suicidal thoughts are the most severe effects of bullying. Bullying can affect physical and emotional health, both in the short term and later in life. It can lead to physical injury, social problems, emotional problems, and even death. As the year goes by bullying keeps growing and affecting many kids’ life. So the main message of this persuasive essay was to show how it’s important to be aware that the smallest prank becomes the biggest crime if it isn’t terminated and when a person is bullied, there is no way on going back those words and those thoughts stay in people’s mind for the rest of their lives.