Bullying in Tweens

I recently read a portion of Totally Wired which dealt with bullying and cyber bullying which I found very interesting.  According to the Education Resources Information Center, “Bullying occurs when a person willfully and repeatedly exercises power over another with hostile or malicious intent” (Goodstein, 2007, p.77).  Tweens are especially prone to bullying due to the extreme changes they are going through.  Many have low self esteem and are going through changes that make them feel vulnerable.  In order to combat this some resort to bullying which gives them a sense of control and power. 

In girls, bullying is usually done by individuals with low self-esteem or by those that are jealous or insecure (Goodstein, 2007, p.79).  It makes them feel better to put others down and they put on a façade of being cool with an abundance of confidence.  Bullies usually have a group of followers that laugh at their jokes which in turn elevates their popularity status, gives them greater confidence, and makes them more prone to do it again.  The social culture today actually promotes bickering and backstabbing which makes teens and tweens think it is ok.  The advent of increased technology has made bullying or cyber bullying as it is now called more prevalent and is more anonymous.  Now bullies can send cruel IM’s or emails without being able to see how much it hurts the other person.  This creates a disconnect where the bully isn’t given a chance to emphasize with how their victim feels and therefore will continue with the bullying and sometimes even increase the level.  It is definitely easier to say mean things through email or to spread pictures or jokes through text messages so the humiliation felt by the victims is more widespread.

After the large number of school shootings in the 1990’s the government decided to do some research studies in order to determine why bullying is done and who bullies are (Goodstein, 2007, p.77).  Since that time they have set aside a considerable amount of money for anti-bullying programs, and twenty-one states have adopted anti-bullying laws (Goodstein, 2007, p.78).  I think the government and individual states are trying hard to get control of this widespread problem because of the far-reaching consequences it has.  Bullies may not know the profound effect they have had on their victims but many carry the pain with them for a long time.  Until a stronger stand is taken on this problem it will continue to grow and grow.

Goodstein, A. (2007). Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.