Then vs. Now
I have read a few different articles that talk about bullying in the modern age and it’s very interesting how with all of the fascinating new technologies we have, there are always a few of the unplanned uses that tend to get abused more than anyone would like to admit.
When I was growing up, there was no Facebook, YouTube didn’t exist, and viral meant you should stay home from school to prevent infecting other kids.
In the modern day, we are a bit more connected than ever before and with that, we sometimes don’t realize how impactful our words can be on someone else.
For those of us who joined Facebook in the past 5 years, we can disregard someone’s random offensive words or we might be a bit more confident in ourselves because we still have some portion of our lives that is private (and we value that portion).
In the modern age where we are constantly creating more and more data, each new written word, taken photo, or filmed video is one less moment of life that was truly private. All it takes is one wrong moment and it can live in digital eternity.
That digital eternity is something that has different value amongst the different generations. In the modern age where instant gratification is commoditized, this is even longer.
For example, in a classroom with 25 students, a single student (bully) can make fun of another student by taking a photo at a wrong moment, send it to everyone in the class, make everyone laugh and want to ‘poke fun’ at the unfortunate victim.
Unfortunately, the viral nature of media translates to the effects of a bully’s actions. All it takes is a single moment of vulnerability to be captured, amplified, and cause undue stress on the already many stressors a student has to deal with.
Most adults have matured to recognize that we are all vulnerable and so to point out someone’s mishaps at their expense is likely to happen to them as anyone else.
In a classroom with children who have not yet matured to this point, everyone has insecurities, but there are a few who know that if they direct attention elsewhere, nobody will pay attention to their insecurities.
Many people have insecurities that they are likely not willing to admit or would rather not discuss them in a public setting.
With the over-connectedness technology brings, we have additional channels that these insecurities can be broadcasted on. Beyond this, if a victim suddenly receives text messages from 25 students all telling the victim how worthless they are, the bullies / peers cannot visually see how the victim is being hurt by any such messages.
When I was growing up, the only place I saw people from school was at school and outside of school, it was whoever I wanted to see with the random appearance at a store or local place.
Today, with a digital tether that could connect you to anyone from the president to your next door neighbor and a screen that can show you the thoughts of hundreds of your friends, we are given a lot of information, and we only have enough ability to process the ones that matter most.
To a child, the world is a much ‘smaller’ place made even smaller by technology. Virtual worlds in games, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks become just another playground that someone can be vulnerable in.
We would all be lying if we said there were never any bullies in our youth. We were able to ignore them then because we had private lives that lived outside of a bully context.
For kids today that are bullied, the number of outlets that let a kid grow and mature outside of fear / anxietyy are constantly shrinking.
With the rate at which technology changes, we need to be able to adopt and make sure that we are raising children not as we were raised, but as best we can given the changing world.
Things are very different, and we need to make sure we adopt and evolve accordingly rather than be stuck in the past that had just as many ups and downs as we have now.
