Effects of Bullying in Society
Do you have a child at any school level? They might be a bully, or they are experiencing bullying without you realizing it. Bullying is a common habit that happens in high school colleges and workplaces every day. With the advancement of technology, bullying has taken new forms like cyber-bullying. Bullying can ruin a person’s life, and extreme bullying can cause injuries or even death. It is a matter that requires parental and institutional effort to stop bullying. Bullying has many adverse effects on a society, which leads to many problems for victims and the bullies.
Bullying has lifelong psychological and emotional effects on both the bully and the victim. Children who experience bullying are more like to develop feelings of loneliness, sadness, disrupted sleeping and eating habits, loss of interest in hobbies and fear. Learners with experiences of bullying are evaluated to have low grades. They are more likely to miss classes or drop out of school (Gage 23). Bullies are more likely to indulge in substance abuse in adolescence or adulthood, engage in fights, destroy property, face criminal charges, and be abusive to their partners and children during adulthood. Children who witness bullying are also at equal risk to that of victims.
The experience of bullying can lead to committing suicide. Bullies target weaknesses in their victims to inflict harm on them. Bullies use appearance, family background, race, or religious affiliation to cause damage. The risk of committing suicide rises if the victims are not emotionally supported by those close to them. It leads to low self-esteem, feeling of guilt, and loss of hope. Traumatizing experiences lead to suicide as a way to get away from the trouble caused by bullying. Bullies are also at risk of committing suicide, especially from witnessing the effect of their behavior on victims. It leads to feelings of regret, which might be hard to live with and eventually commit suicide.
Bullying can create violence in school through ganging. The effect of bullying is detrimental to the victims, which makes them want revenge on the bullies. It is a personal intervention on the bully due to a lack of response by the school or parents. Victims start forming gangs to protect themselves from the effects of bullying. (Sánchez-Alcaraz et al. 54). These gangs lead to violence in school, which causes injuries to children. The whole purpose of learning in children is lost, and their goal turns to seek revenge on their oppressors. It leads to poor concentration in school and, eventually, poor performance.
Cyber-bullying refers to the use of mobile technology and the internet to cause harm or harass another person. Bullying might not be a new behavior, but with the advancement of technology, it has moved from the school to the social platforms. Cyber-bullying targets all people, including top government officials and celebrities, which goes unnoticed as it happens on individual accounts (Mikhaylovsky et al. 16). This type of bullying is promoted by the fact that citizens in many countries enjoy the constitutional right of freedom of expression. Like other forms of bullying, cyber-bullying has many adverse effects on both victims and the perpetrators. Victims exhibit withdrawal from society, fear of social platforms, avoiding work and social events, low self-esteem, and violent thoughts.
Another form of bullying is workplace bullying on new employees, which has a negative impact on the relationships at the workplace. Managers might give them too much work, which they are unable to complete, which results in threats of being fired or being scolded and termed as lazy. Older employees verbally bully the new employees due to their dressing, which is usually inferior to any new employee due to financial ability. This ruins the motivation of new employees to work for the organization due to their first impression of the workplace (Al Omar 89). Employees who experience bullying are more likely to quit their jobs earlier compared to those who are well oriented to the organization. It leads to depression and a negative perception of bully managers and employees, which affect the output of a worker.
Although bullying has been there for many years, it is a trait that needs to be countered and stopped. This is primarily due to the harmful impact bullying has on the victims. It has led to death, psychological illnesses, and loss of jobs and poor performance of students. There is a need for parents and teachers to unite and help children who are experiencing bullying in schools (Gutiérrez 45). Teachers must create awareness about the detrimental effects of this ill behavior. This will also help in providing emotional support to the victims and the bullies.
There are many social effects of bullying in society. It affects all aspects of society; children, adolescents, and even adults. Bullying can ruin a person’s life in many ways; they might drop out of school, quit a job, or make them develop social isolation due to fear. It is, therefore, essential to stop this ancient trait by creating awareness of its adverse effects. This will help bring up moral children and a just society.
Works Cited
Al Omar, Munirah, Mahmoud Salam, and Khaled Al-Surimi. “Workplace bullying and its impact on the quality of healthcare and patient safety.” Human resources for health 17.1 (2019): 89.
Gage, Nicholas A., Chad A. Rose, and Dennis A. Kramer. “When prevention is not enough: students’ perception of bullying and school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports.” Behavioral Disorders 45.1 (2019): 29-40.
Gutiérrez, Raquel Bartolomé, and Eduardo Díaz Herráiz. “Social support and self-perception in bullying roles.” Anales de Psicología 36.1 (2020): 92.
Mikhaylovsky, Mikhail N., et al. “Cyberbulling as a new form of a threat: a physiological, psychological and medicinal aspects.” Electronic Journal of General Medicine 16.6 (2019).
Sánchez-Alcaraz, Bernardino J., et al. “Relationship between School Violence, Sportspersonship and Personal and Social Responsibility in Students.” Apunts: Educació Física i Esports 139 (2020).