Suicide is a very pressing issue amongst today‘s teenage and young adult population Historically, suicide is an action that has been occurring since the earliest days of civilization; however, with the advent of new technologies, suicide is an issue that has been garnering national attention due to new technologies that are almost omnipresent in our society. The victim of yesterday almost always knew who their bully or bullies were. Today, not only could a bully literally exist anywhere in the world, but they can also be anyone. In this day in age, precautions must be taken to prevent bullying, both in the real world and especially online. With less job prospects in traditional fields (ex. manufacturing), tighter college admission standards, and an economy that has decreased the stability of many previously stable families, the argument can be made that Millennials are at higher levels of stress.
With what Millennials already face, the last bit of additional stress should come from bullying. That extra bit could be the final push to commit an act in which some see as an escape from a life full of negativity. Bullying in schools has always existed but now bullying reaches far beyond the school wallsi With advances in Internet and social media bullying has leaked into the homes of victims and has made them feel like there is no escape. NoBullyingicom (2014) states that the victims “are often lonely and sad people, who feel that life is not worth living.” This causes the victim to contemplate how important their lives are and if they should commit suicide. Suicide is an escape from the pain to the victim, Bullying is a huge deal and people need to understand what the victim is going through in order to understand how to help. The victim can not talk to someone because of the fear of the bullying making their lives even worse.
In fact, bully victims isolate themselves from their family and friends (NoBullyingcom, 2014). Without family and friends they take matters into their own hands. According to studies: When victims can’t find a way out of their dilemma, they have been known to handle their situation in a way that is appropriate to them and not to others. School shootings are a part of the bullying process. Bullied victims often feel lost, trapped, helpless and worthless. In their effort to escape the physiological and physical abuse of their tormentor, bullied victims commit suicide or homicide. In this story suicide had won the battle with Lewis. Hamilton (2013) from LA Times takes us through a story about Jordan Lewis, A boy who had committed suicide due to bullying. The day before Lewis’ death he had watched an anti-bullying video at school.
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The end of the video showed the victim of bullying going home and committing suicide, That night Lewis had texted his friend telling her that he was going to hurt himself. In a panicked state had told her grandmother who contacted the police, The police had stopped by Lewis’ house for a wellness visit The next morning when Lewis‘ morn left for work Lewis had called the cops with a gun pointed at his heart. Shortly after Lewis’ father heard the news he posted short videos on facebook about his son’s death. The father doesn’t want revenge but justice. Sadly, Lewis isn’t the only victim of bullying Bullying occurs all around the country and around the world.
A study done by Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga, Paul Roumeliotis and Hao Xu (2014) included a school with 2999 students, 1658 were female and 1341 were male. The study concluded that: total of 174% of students were victims of cyberbullying and 25.2% were victims of school bullying. There was a significant difference in the gender ratio of cyberbullying victims. Girls were twice as likely to experience cyber bullying victimization as boys (data not shown). Students who were in lower grades were more likely to be victims of school bullying (Kantinga, Rottmeliotis and Xu, 2014). As you may see this research also gives a ratio of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying and bullying are different in that a cyberbully is behind a computer and not physically in front of the person.
NoBullyingcom (2014) defines cyberbullying as “the act of using the Internet, cell phones, video games, or other technology gadgets to send, text, or post images intended to hurt or embarrass another person“. Cyberbullying often occurs when someone decides to do something stupid e.g. sexting. Amanda Todd’s story is a prime example of cyberbullying. Amanda had met “ an anonymous person on facebook”. This person had flattered Amanda to the point that she sent him a topless picture of herself. A year later this same person or another unknown person had sent her picture to her and it went viral. This led up to huge amounts of bullying which caused her to transfer schools several times. She had no friends and her reputation was ruined, Months later she had taken her own life.
Another big difference between cyberbullying and bullying is cyberbullying doesn’t end because the victim is gone. In Amanda Todd‘s case the cyberbullying continued. NoBullyingcom states that: The hate campaign continued online after Amanda’s passing, people ridiculed her suicide and made fun of the entire story, they even said she deserved what had happened to her. The cyber bullying continued despite appeals for people to see the real tragedy behind Amanda’s death. People need to be more aware of cyberbullying and bullying. There are signs to help detect if your child or another child is being bullied. Michele Borba (2012) listed some of these signs in her article 19 Signs Your Child 15 Being Bullied and What to Do about it.
Some of these signs include: Unexplained physical marks, cuts, bruises and scrapes, doesn‘t want to go to school or other activities with peers, afraid to be left alone, suddenly clingy, appearing sad, moody, angry, anxious or depressed, suddenly has fewer friends or doesn’t want to be with the “regular group”, and talks about feeling helpless or about suicide; runs away (Borba, 2012), Cyberbullying and bullying have both become very big problems. Jordan Lewis’ father stated “he just wants justice” and Amanda Todd’s family wants the same thing, The way to get justice is by making people more aware of cyberbullying and bullying. Use the signs listed above to help determine if someone is being bullied. Also, a victim of bullying is likely to not talk or open about things because they are fearful. All they need is a friend that they can trust and feel safe with and they will most likely open up then.
