School Bullying: A Bigger Issue Than We Thought?

The discussion of school bullying came up in class and the fact that it is becoming more of an issue in today's society.  Many students in class agreed and said that bullying is in fact becoming a bigger issue today than it was years ago. However, others argued that bullying has always been a main issue within schools and is becoming more transparent to society through the media due to the vast technological advances.  


If you think about it, 8 years ago we did not have Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, etc. and now our world revolves around these social networking sites.  Almost all of my friends have smart phones or PDAs, which makes internet access much faster and easier.  Therefore, if someone sees something that intrigues them such as a fight, someone wearing a bathing suit to class, a naked person on the street, etc. it only takes a second to snap a picture or recording and then post it on the internet. 


Nowadays if you go on YouTube or Google and type in "girls fighting" over 10,000 results will show up.  So what does that tell you?  Is bullying becoming more prevalent in schools? Or is it that we have access to all this technology that it's becoming more transparent?  


According to the National Institutes of Health, 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally and physically. And the American Justice Department says that 1 out of 4 kids will be abused by another youth each month.  It is sad to see that kids are scared to go to school because of bullies.  Not to mention that many students have committed suicide due to bullying.  In my opinion I do believe that bullying has become more of an issue in our society.  This is due to the media and technological advances.  I think that them more students see videos on YouTube of kids fighting or jumping other kids, it makes them think that it is okay to do the same thing.  Many of these kids just want their 15 minutes of fame and so they choose to beat someone up and receive praise for it.  This also brings up another issue, should YouTube allow its members to upload videos of kids fighting?  Should they put restrictions on those types of videos?  


Source:
http://www.pascack.k12.nj.us/70271919141818/lib/70271919141818/Bullying_Statistics.htm