The definition of bullying is “repetitive and intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.” This means that you can’t accidentally bully someone! While it may feel unpleasant if someone is mean to you, bullying is a repeated behavior, not a one-off disagreement.
The definition of bullying is “repetitive and intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.” This means that you can’t accidentally bully someone!
Bullying online is often carried out by people you know and may be linked to “real-world” bullying, which might make you feel like there’s no escape. Moreover, telling someone to just turn their phone off and ignore it is not very realistic.
Alex Holmes, Deputy CEO at The Diana Award, an organization that provides resources and support for people who are experiencing bullying behavior, recommends: “Let someone—anyone—know how you are feeling, sense check the situation by asking someone ‘this just happened, what do you think’?
Don’t let the negativity they are imposing on you become your truth. You are equals. Bullying behavior is often targeted towards something very personal —your looks , personality traits, sexuality, or ethnicity, anything that the person bullying can use to hurt you.
October is Bullying Prevention Month in the U.S., and it is an important time to talk about bullying, how it can affect you, and what you can do to tackle it. In our nationwide 2019 Digital Civility survey of U.S. parents and teens, twenty-two percent of parents shared that their children have personally experienced some form of online bullying, ...
Power image: The bully often yields power in the first instance. Sometimes they might be physically bigger, they might appear to be more popular or use others around them as back up, but actually, this power isn’ t always real. The people standing by the person bullying are often just too afraid to stand up to them.
We must be clear; bullying is never okay! There may sometimes be a catalyst for it, a fall out with a friend, or a disagreement over a sports game, but there is a difference between someone being mean or having an argument and bullying. Here are a few important things to know about bullying and how to deal with it:
They are not weaknesses; they are strengths. If you can start to see yourself in this way, it helps adjust that “power” imbalance and the person bullying loses their strength. Bullying is not a personality trait, but rather a behavior that can change.