Can you imagine being in a situation in which you have no control and have to confront the constant distress to your wellbeing? Well, a shocking number of students in Australia have been reported of being bullied. Bullying by definition “is when an individual or a group of people with more power, repeatedly and intentionally cause hurt or harm to another person or group of people who feel helpless to respond.” (NCAB, 2019) Alarmingly, according to Kids Helpline 1 in 4 students have been bullied. These children face the regular burden of being terrified. They are terrified of being bullied in class verbally or physically and at home online. Technology and social media apps, such as SnapChat and Instagram have meant that bullying can happen anywhere and anytime. Home is no longer a safe haven as bullies can target their victims through messaging apps. There are various consequences of being bullied and many students are negatively impacted. The immediate and long term effects of bullying are significant, but the main areas impacted include: psychological and physical effects and decline in academic performance.
Paragraph 1: Psychological Effects
The psychological effects of bullying include can anxiety, depression, self-harm, violence, aggressive outburst and lower self-esteem. Psychological effects are more dangers and have long term implications compared to physical effects. The worst case scenario could be suicide as the victim feels the only form of escape is to end their life. Surprisingly, “Boys were significantly more likely to suffer chronic or increasing bullying than girls.” The way boys and girls bully can be different. Girls tend to use verbal abuse, exclusion and body language to target their victim. Boys tend to use physical aggression and body language as their primary source of bullying. The expectation that boys will be boys reinforces the acceptance of many intimidating behaviours. Equally, cruel remarks from girls can be dismissed as typical girl behaviours which minimises the potential for damage. Psychological effects can extend well beyond when the bullying ends as the effects have been stored in their memory. The victimised child becomes anxious that the patterns will continue which effectively repeats the abuse in their mind by tormenting them. The best solution is to speak up and seek support as soon as possible.
Paragraph 2: Physical Effects
Bullying can have immediate and devastating effects on the victim including broken bones, scars, bruising which can subsequently lead to sleep deprivation, health concerns and retaliating in violence. Bullying is learnt behaviour hence mistreatment and physical abuse can cause the pattern of violence to continue. Physical abuse is mainly undertaken by a big person compared to the victim, so the bully is not harmed in any case. Physical abuse is normally taken place at school or on the way home of the victim. The bullies corner the victim up so there is no place for he or she to proceed. Step by step the sense starts to escalate
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Paragraph 3: Academic Decline
One of the indicators that someone is being bullied is a decline in academic performance as the victim loses hope and is unable to concentrate. Parents and teachers may be the first to pick up the decline as the loss of motivation becomes obvious. A bullied student may show signs of anxiety and depression which affects their ability to study. Many victims hide the mistreatment hoping it will go away, so other signs such as grades can measure their focus in school. According to the Good Schools Guide students who are being bullied perform 6-9 months worse in NAPLAN tests compared to their non-bullied peers. Some academic students may be inclined to underperform as they are worried about standing out or being the teacher’s pet if they do well. Therefore, there is peer pressure to underachieve.
As expressed it shows that bullying is a severely disgusting act that is aimed at innocent children across the whole world. Bullying is not tolerable in any instance and more actions should be taken to prevent bullying from happening. Bullying gives negative thoughts to the victim who is receiving the message and the person who has sent the message. When bullying happens it also causes negative effects on not just the bully but also the people that are exposed to it. The psychological effects of bullying cause issues such as lack of esteem, among others. Physical effects which involve breaking anything even from the human body. Furthermore, bullying may cause academic decline due to the low motivation of the victim.
Unfortunately, there are many cases of bullying in the world however I believe that there should be actions taken to promote the idea of “Bullying, No Way”. This can be done through school activities, advertisements and more education about the issue.
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