Suicide due to Bullying....I don't get it

Great observation! I think the social connections are the difference. When we were bullied when we were younger, we could get away. Just the ones around knew. Today, when someone gets bullied, it not only happens face-to-face, but it also happens all across the social media. So: 1) They are going through that stage of life when they are completely wrappped up in themselves. They can't imagine that things about them aren't that important to other people. They think other people are going to focus on it as much as they do. 2) To them, other people's opinions, especially people they consider important, define who they are. If somebody else thinks they're stupid, they are stupid in their own eyes. 3) They don't have a really solid method of coping yet. Those of us that are a little older have developed multiple ways of coping with out problems, including just walking away. They often just think there's nothing that can be done. These three things are the same as when we were growing up. However, for them: 4) All those faceless people on their social networks, that they have never met or even talked to, are just as important as our in-person friends. 5) Turning off social media doesn't seem to be a consideration. When I told my daughter to ignore somebody texting her because it was dinnertime, I was told that was rude. It didn't occur to her that it was rude to the people she was with to be texting all the time. It seems to have a hold over them that I can't fully understand. One of the major ploys used when bullying is to do it in front of other people. The same tactics don't usually work as well when it's one-on-one. You said yourself that what happened to you may have scarred you today. Multiply what happened to you by 10, and you're probably close to how they would feel if all their Facebook "friends" knew. But it doesn't stop there. They know that they're not "friends" with everybody, but they imagine that these terrible words are being spread to everyone. So instead of just times 10, it's probably closer to 100 or 1,000 times worse, or more. Then, when we were growing up, we quickly learned we could go home to get away from it and be safe. Not true anymore. Because of computers, IPads, and everything else, the bullying follows them. And the bullying doesn't have to be live. Things that are put online, are permanent. So in their mind, they can't ever get away and it's never going to stop. They don't think anything can be done to stop it and they think everybody they will ever meet "knows". This is just too much for some. It's why there are laws against cyber-bullying. I think the bullying seems much more intense than it used to.

I was bullied for YEARS in school as well. So much so that my parents took me out of public school and put me in private school in hopes to make things better for me. Which it helped a little but it turns out private school children can be just as mean as all of the other children! I think it is the fact of facebook and things like that. For example, yes you can report the bullying but it does not change the fact that half the school might have already seen the things they wrote about you on there before you actually saw it to report it. I believe it is MUCH worse with all of the social media now for kids that are bullied. I watched the movie Cyberbully and I understood much more of what kids go through with all of this stuff. I could understand how MEAN the kids could be to each other and how bad it gets. It is a great movie for understanding this situation... I think kids start to feel like they are alone and nobody is there for them in this situation. I think they believe its the easy way out of it. I know its not and so do you, but they are young and impressionable. I would definitely recommend watching that movie if you have netflix or if you can rent it from somewhere.

I know I was bullied a lot of my time growing up as well, and it was not always easy, and did tend to stray away from a lot of them, and just kept to myself. Personally the Biggest issue anymore is with Facebook. So many times people are bullied by someone even there, and it can be hard to take. People who are being bullied are often misunderstood and need to find someone to talk too. When they can find this, it usually helps make life a lot easier.

I'm also not sure. There are some kids that can't tolerate bullying. I guess they see it as one person hates me, all people hates me. They quickly make judgements like "since this person sees me as this, all people would also see me as this". This is one reason why generalizing is bad. You make a quick judgement of something so fast, and then stick to it. I'm not siding with the bullies here. Bullying is never good, especially for kids. I'm just saying, the victims should also do something, like stepping up against bullies.

I can see your point. I was also bullied when I was a kid. I tried staying away from those two guys but the more they would be following me around. What I did was report them to my teacher in one of the subjects who happens to be their class adviser. I told her exactly what were the words they were telling me and so she warned the two boys. I guess she really made it clear to them that not unless they stop following me around, they could get suspended. The easy access to social media has put a lot of people into that trap. And I think that they should learn to avoid those sites, like what you said, so that they would not be affected. But then, these kids nowadays, could barely spend a day without being online. It is as if the world would end if they do not go online. But still, if they knew better, they should not keep silent if they are being bullied. They need to tell their parents about it right away.

I always think that cases like this are always sad when people feel that they have no other option than to take there own lives because they feel bullied. Places like schools should do more to ensure that incidents like this doesnt happen and people have more protection.

Hi drknlvly, It is certainly a different world now than when I was young. I do remember feeling as though the world that I lived in then was all that there was. Children, I think, live in a place where they feel stuck and like their current situation is all there is. I remember telling my own children that this is a temporary state of being and that there is so much more in the world than what they see right now. Maybe we should tell them that more. I also agree with the majority of the responders where social media is concerned. When we left school, we left people we didn't want to be around behind. Oh..there may have been some prank phone calls or something like that but our recreational activities were much different then and we most likely missed those calls anyway. Now recreation consists of social media for children and they can not escape as easily as we did before. Of course there are alternatives like you mentioned but most of the time children care about what others think of them and want to see what is going on. I agree that it is a huge issue and perhaps we should reinforce the fact to children how temporary the problem is or can be.

Once you started to say something against to someone, it will repeat again and again. Then you will become bully to that person. It is not proper and should be stop. You can make or break the confidence of other people.

I read a story about that a few months back.. sad. Hope schools are taking better measures against this bullying