Every time bullying in schools comes up to question, the first thought that arises in my mind is, “What is bullying?” Every student knows that making fun of someone or pushing, kicking, or hitting someone, starting rumors, all that sort of behavior that implies outwardly hurtful intent encompasses the definition of bullying, but I didn’t feel like either side effectively explained the extent of bullying as it pertains to the students and their friends, that is, if a kid makes fun of some weaker person that he/she doesn’t like, then it is unquestionably an act of bullying, but if it is banter between friends, does this qualify as bullying? Regardless of whether the scope of the study was to encompass this definition between friends, is it a perceived action by students and therefore influences their responses in the studies? I feel this is a significant issue not only because it can skew the results of the study, but also because I think it is entirely unknown by most kids what point friendly banter (poking fun in the absence of harmful intent) crosses over into bullying (harm perceived by affected party). While most of the banter exchanged between friends is probably completely harmless, or at least intended to be, there always exists the possibility that one joke can strike a nerve (imagine calling a closeted homosexual person a “faggot” or calling someone with an autistic family member/family friend “retarded”). Just how deep that nerve is struck and how often can have disastrous consequences. I’ll admit, I give my friends a hard time a lot, and they do likewise to me, and I feel like we know that it is harmless, but I still am cognizant of the fact that I probably shouldn’t do it.
Is joking back and forth with a friend considered bullying? Do middle school students know the difference?
Though “friendly bullying” is probably the biggest question brought to my mind in the reading, I also questioned a few other things. Both studies presented the idea that a large portion of bullying went unreported, in fact the NO argument went so far as to suggest it was because students didn’t feel that adults would help them when they found a correlation between satisfaction with the school environment and a lower percentage of reported abuse. But I had to wonder, how many of the kids felt not that the adults WOULDN’T help, but that they COULDN’T help, that they felt misunderstood maybe, or that the availability of adult counseling was sparse enough to not make it worth the effort. Also, these studies are four years old, and for the NO argument to present the idea that an increase in the availability of the internet would have no bearing the amount of cyber bullying that occurs seemed kind of counter-intuitive. When I graduated high school in 2007, I had only had facebook/msn accounts for maybe a year and now I have them on my phone. I think the internet provides a certain amount of anonymity that contributes greatly to the increase in cyberbullying, and while males and females may choose different methods of doing so, both groups participate given the increase in opportunity.
Should the internet provide so much anonymity to students? If it didn’t, how would this affect the amount of cyberbullying that occurs?
I had many of the same issues with the reading. Another thing that your post brought to mind was that it really is probable that teachers or even parents can't stop cyberbullying. It usually happens outside of a school environment, and thus out of teachers' realm, but also the bully may be anonymous. The bully may go to a different school, even in a different state or country.
ReplyDeleteCyberbullying doesn't always happen strictly among classmates at the same school where teachers might be able to intervene. Even parents might only have the recourse of limiting access to certain websites, but even then, there's a possibility that the bully may be anonymous and remain unpunished to bully another day.
From what I was reading taking away someone's identity makes them feel braver. That's why group mentalities can be so dangerous. I've dealt with it at the clubs where people feel braver when they don't have the spot light on them or a microphone and just yell out whatever they want to. As soon as I turned my attention to the heckler and identified them they usually just shut up. With the way the world is going it feels like 1984 but is that going to a good or bad thing?
ReplyDeleteWith everything being so available on the internet these days I think that even a subtle joke between two friends can be taken out of context by someone who doesn't know the situation and be seen as bullying. I think it can be difficult for younger children to evaluate the situation and understand that others might joke in certain situations.
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