Battling Bullying: The impacts of social media

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Bullying in and outside of the classroom is a nationwide issue. It is a growing problem teachers and counselors in our area are trying to combat.

A study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development shows 30% of American children in grades 6 through 10 have been bullied, or have bullied other children.

“Bullying is a reflection of the society in which we live,” UNCW Professor Department of Instructional Technology, Robert Smith said. “And as you have indicated it’s as society changes, so has bullying changed.”

From Instagram, to Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook, social media continues to open doors for cyber bullying. Doors that have never been opened like this before.

“We’ve had parents bring in screenshots of cyber issues that we need to handle,” Brunswick County Schools Counseling Specialist, Meredith Lloyd said. “So identifying a victim is very different then it used to be, but it’s something that we’re all trained to do. That’s why we’re here. We’re not just looking at academics anymore.”

Looking outside of the classroom is yet another task teachers will have to do as social media expands the platform for students to be harassed.

“Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, they’re able to immediately taunt somebody, and it’s out there forever, even though they can take it away, or they can delete something, it’s out there permanently,” Lloyd said.

A quick click of the mouse, or pressing send on a phone, could impact someone’s life forever. It is a scary thought many adults say they did not have to deal with growing up.

“I think that’s different than I could write a note to somebody and be mean, and it could be shredded or be thrown away,” Lloyd said.

So is social media changing the way kids bully others?

“To be honest I feel like bullying is bullying,” Lloyd said. “And I feel like we have increased our social media aspects, our cyber bullying, but kids are still doing the same things they’re doing when you and I were younger; they’re calling names.”

However, it is how kids are going about name calling that makes it harder for teachers and other adults to catch and keep the bullying under control.

“Now with social media we have to add to that, that those interactions can be occurring 24 hours a day and a lot of that outside of the direct purview of schools, of teachers, administration, so it’s it’s much more challenging in many ways,” Smith said.

It is a challenge teachers say they are more than ready for.

“Ultimately we’ve got to hope, encourage, provide environments where students feel that they can trust adults that if they do report it that it’s going to be dealt with appropriately and successfully,” Smith said. “And not going to, you know, exacerbate the problem that they’re dealing with.”

Trusting in the system, in teachers, instructors or mentors is the first step in combating the growing issue of bullying.

In a more recent study by Clemson University, it shows 17% of students in kindergarten through 12 grade were bullied at least two to three times a month. As for the other side of the spectrum, 10% of students in K-12 had bullied others just as much.

To find out ways you can prevent bullying, click here.