Michelle Hennessy – News Writer
Campaigns used to educate people against bullying are not helping the situation, according to Southern’s assistant counselor, Denise Zack.
She said from speaking to people from different programs about bullying, specific protocols and steps help reduce bullying the most.
“Simply educating people isn’t as effective,” said Zack. “It may educate them but it certainly won’t make the problem go away.”
According to Make Beats Not Beat Downs, a non-profit website dedicated to helping victims of bullies, 71 percent of students say bullying is an issue in their school, with nearly 300,000 students being physically attacked in secondary schools every month.
Whilst the bullying itself may stop, the effects it can have can stay with someone long afterward, according to Zack.
“With those people who have been bullied regularly and severely, we see very dramatic sufferings of depression and low self-esteem, social withdrawal, anxiety and even suicide attempts,” said Zack. “So it can have a very dramatic impact on an individual depending on multiple factors.”
Zack said while the students she has spoken to were bullied mostly between elementary school through to high school, bullying can occur at any age and is not exclusive to the school yard.
“It happens in workplace settings, it absolutely does,” said Zack. “I think there’s an awful lot of intimidation that goes on in the workplace with co-workers so it definitely does not end when you’re out of school.”
The Workplace Bullying Institute found 37 percent of workers had been bullied in a 2007 survey, with 57 percent of the victims being women.
With bullying now receiving more and more coverage, Zack said she hopes this will help bring down the problem.
“I think the way the media is now highlighting some of the bullying, it’s a potential for all of us to get in on it and understand it better to get more information to develop better protocols,” said Zack. “Because there is way too much self-harm that’s going on as a result of it.”
Psychology and mental health senior Raysa Florentino agrees that more people are now trying to tackle the issue compared to previous years.
“I think people are now not just bystanders watching it happen anymore, they intervene so it definitely helps. I think it’s still an issue though; people are still getting bullied,” said Florentino.
“It’s not just educating people though, it’s about intervening and getting involved,” said Florentino. “And it won’t work if we just do it once or twice, there has to be consistent teaching that this is wrong.”
While verbal and physical bullying are still commonplace in schools, the emergence of new technologies means an increased amount of people falling victims to cyberbullying, according to public health senior Joseph Peloso.
“I think cyber bullying is more prevalent now,” said Peloso. “We’re in an age of technology now where kids have iPads and more access to these things than adults had growing up so I believe cyber bullying is becoming something or is turning into something pretty bad.”
The CDC found 16% of students have been bullied electronically, whether it be through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging or texting.
Zack said cyber bullying should be seen as no less damaging to a person’s life especially as it can happen 24 hours a day – there’s no escaping it.
“Every time someone uses intimidation to make someone feel badly about themselves, that’s going to have an impact on their victim and can leave them with an emotional scar,” said Zack. “Cyber bullying is no different because the threats can still be terrifying, they’re fear inducing to an individual.”
