Do you ever wonder why people bully? Have you been a victim of bullying? Are you sure that you haven’t been a bully? Bullying has affected the lives of many people. It is an act of degradement or abuse whether physical or verbal towards a person. Most bullying incidents starts at school. But there are some cases where bullying happens at home within the family members or the community. Sometimes, people are unconscious of their actions, that’s why they may not know that they’re acting like the bully. It is something that people should be aware of, given that it has negatively impacted the lives of many.
November 4 commemorates International Anti-Bullying Day. Some countries celebrate it on other days of November, but they all have a unified mission. The said event has an agenda; to raise awareness of bullying and why people shouldn’t do it. This includes face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying. We, as mental health professionals, condemn such acts of violence. Bullying can lower self-esteem, induce anxiety, encourage vices, and can lead to depression. In this blog, we will be talking about the statistics of bullying, the acts of bullying, how it affects mental health and how to distinguish if you’re being a bully.
Why People Bully: The Acts of Bullying and Why They Do It
People are not born bullies. They learn about bullying. Learning why people bully other people could help you understand why they did that. Sure, it may be a no-brainer to care about the reasons of a bully, but it helps you become more empathetic to his cause. Here are the common acts of bullying and why they do it:
The common acts of bullying:
- Physical Bullying – it is the violence wherein its enacted through physical means. It imposes bodily harm. This can be hitting, punching, slapping, pushing, or throwing a target. Physical bullies are usually bigger than their victims and have a high social status. These bullies do it because they feel the need to be above all the others so he wouldn’t be looked down on despite his flaws.
- Verbal Bullying – it is violence where it uses words to attack the victim. It can be degradation words spoken or posted on social media. Insults, threats, gossip, and spreading fake information are forms of verbal bullying. Verbal bullies are usually insecure, physically weak, hiding behind a phone, and are afraid of being retaliated. They do it because it makes them feel good to be authoritative over the victims and learned the act such as observing role models at home or at the digital media.
- Emotional bullying – this is the bullying that sometimes goes unnoticed. It is manipulating peoples’ emotions and actions to their advantage. Bullies who do this are usually in need of something that they couldn’t get themselves so they use other people to get it. Emotional bullies are those people who want to keep their high social standards so they step on other people to show their status.
- Cyberbullying – this type of bullying is prevalent in online spaces where most people spend their time. Cyberbullying is the maltreatment of an online user towards another online user. This can be in the form of sending inappropriate messages, insulting the user in the comments, spreading fake information, posting unsolicited photos, creating hateful memes, and more. Cyberbullies are usually insecure and cowards who hide behind keyboards and phone screens. They learned to cyberbully because other people are unconsciously doing it.
The Statistics of Bullying
According to the US National Bullying Prevention Center, around 20% of students report being a victim of bullying. But because it takes courage to report bullying incidents out of the fear of being retaliated, we think that there is a huge number of bullying that goes unreported. Most of the victims of bullying stated that they were picked on because of their physical appearance, radial ethnicity, disability, and gender. Another data says that when it comes to physical violence, males are victimized more than women. Verbal bullying is dominant in female groups, making them subject to insults and false rumors.
Cyberbullying can be as strong as face-to-face bullying. 15% of US-based students say that bullying happens online. In the Philippines alone, almost half of the teenage population has been a victim of cyberbullying. According to UNICEF, five countries say that their students have skipped school due to being a victim of cyberbullying. Verbal type of bullying is prevalent with other forms of abuse such as sexual messages and comments. Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are where cyberbullying happens. This can be in a form of unsolicited picture taking, editing one’s photo into memes, speaking fake news, and “deepfaking”, a form of technology to create fake videos.
The Effects of Bullying Towards Mental Health
When a person becomes a victim of bullying, he will suffer from poor mental health, too. The victim can have depression and anxiety as well as low self-esteem. He will also practice social withdrawal and self-harm. If the affected person is in school, he will have declining academic performance. If he’s at work, he has no motivation to perform his job and will fail to accomplish tasks. When bullying gets worse, and so will his symptoms. When these symptoms persist because of the bullying, he may develop mental illnesses.
Am I A Bully? How to Distinguish If I’m Being A Bully
Now that you’ve known why people bully, try to figure out if you bully. There are times that we are unconscious that we’re being the bad guy or in other words, the bully. Here are questions you need to ask yourself to assess if you’re being a bad, bad bully:
- Do I stand and watch when someone is getting bullied?
- Have I ever manipulated other people to get what I want?
- Do I hit people out of anger to show how powerful I am?
- Am I spreading hate online?
If you answer yes to one of these questions, then you’re being a bully. We may not be aware of it, but the little things we intentionally do can hurt the other person.
Why People Bully: It’s Time to Heal
If you want to heal from the trauma that bullying has brought you, then you’re in the right place. Check out our services.