Bullying in the 21st century is inescapable. Everyone is vulnerable to the impacts of bullying, but it is often the unique individuals who are picked on and viciously harassed. Due to the vast cyberuniverse, bullying can occur anywhere at any time. Thanks to the internet, bullying can be anonymous. Most schools have many different cliques or tiers of students; it is inevitable that disagreements among groups may occur; but these disagreements or differences can cause major issues in school. Schools try to portray to the public eye that they are bully free; sadly, no school is a bully-free zone. I am 15 years-old and I have been bullied. I have personally experienced the mental and physical anguish. I was on the bottom tier of my schools “social system” and was bullied by the “higher rank” students. I never reported what happened or how they treated me and now I have to deal with the emotional scars.
Why was I bullied? I appear completely “normal” now. In first grade I had befriended the so-called “outcasts.” By becoming friends with these kids I had put myself in the lower tier. In third grade, I developed an over-eating problem and began to hate myself, because of the bullies picking on me for my weight. Fifth grade is when the bullying intensified for me just because I was overweight girl. Girls would walk by me in the hallways on a daily basis and say “ewww” to me. I tried to ignore it, but bullying can never be ignored. I put on an act as if I was fine and it didn’t bother me at all. The effects of bullying are unrelenting. By eighth grade I had developed a few new disorders; anorexia and some minor depression. I became terrified of food and thought to myself. “Do not eat! You are so fat.” I would also replay all the hurtful words said to me throughout my life. By the end of my freshmen year in high school I had lost about 45 pounds.
Being bullied is overwhelming to any student or child and the effects can be even worse; depression, suicide, anorexia, and bulimia. These effects are the hard-to-reverse effects of bullying. This generation must not be blind to bullying; it is a real thing kid’s face every day. Children must be educated about the need to be careful online. Policies need to be developed and strictly enforced to help end or at least curb bullying. Schools, friends, and families must be vigilant toward bullying in schools or online and need to be taught algorithms on how to successfully confront the bully, and the bystander. We have to learn to report bullying immediately; bullying is a serious problem that can cause permanent damage as I have personally experienced. We have to somehow teach young people that the only proper response to bullying is to report it; ignoring it encourages its spread. Working with parents and other adults, it is possible to stem this rushing tide.