Are teengers really that dense?
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An interesting facet of this is that currently, US schools are being run in a manner more and more resembling prisons (zero tolerance, random search, student tracking, controlled diet). We place into this hormonal kids that are craving social acceptance... and it gets ugly.
People that are in no way prepared for life dropped into a scenario that pretty well forces the most destructive form of clique creation and social dominance. And they can't escape it, since they're expected to continue acting in this context out of school hours via social media. But hey, current US school procedures have to be worth it be- oh, wait they aren't conductive to learning either.
People that are in no way prepared for life dropped into a scenario that pretty well forces the most destructive form of clique creation and social dominance. And they can't escape it, since they're expected to continue acting in this context out of school hours via social media. But hey, current US school procedures have to be worth it be- oh, wait they aren't conductive to learning either.
Cyber bullying extends past just not reading what people say though. If you do something embarrassing you worry what people thing at that moment. Well make it worse when you are insecure as a young kid mixed with news of whatever happened spreading around the the net of all your classmates. You don't have to read everything to know that people are spreading your name around.
People are dense. That should answer your question. The difference is that many teenagers have little experience of reality outside their social environment, and if it turns against them, they have little else to measure their self-worth - and unlike adults, they're not independent, so they don't often have the option of just changing who they spend time with, or just withdraw altogether. Given sufficient pressure, a small minority will crack.
Frankly, I doubt it's just teenagers today - I imagine the same has been true in all cultures for thousands of years.
Frankly, I doubt it's just teenagers today - I imagine the same has been true in all cultures for thousands of years.
I get your point, but can't you, you know.. block those mongoloids who are bullying you? Or simply not add them as your friends? Report them?Stasisesque said:
There are millions of ways of escaping cyber bullying and suicide certainly isn't one of them.
Your post makes it seem like cyber bullying is bullying on a whole new level, while in fact it's nothing compared to real life bullying.
OT: Yes, teenager are really that dense. It's probably a combination of the constant use of technology that dumbs them down and the overprotectiveness of the parents that makes them little crybabies and spoiled brats.
They can't use their brains properly because they are used to it that their tablets/smartphones/PC's do everything for them and they can't take some virtual insults over the internet because they never learned to deal with shit themselves.
Now, there were many teenagers like that when I was a teenager, but I would say that there are faaaaaaar more such cases now. Especially in the western part of the world.
While it's nice to protect your kids from shit, if you overdo that and your kid never gets to experience a fight, a simply insult is devastating.
While I hate to say "deal with it"... kids need to learn to deal with it. The world is a shitty place and it will never be without bullies and the other idiots. So unless you learn to deal with it yourself, you're screwed.
It should be mandatory for every 16yo person to visit /v/ once per week just to learn to deal with it. 10-16 could visit a SFW board.
Well it's easy to call young people stupid when ya ain't in their shoes and compare them to an idealized version of your own teenage years. But don't be mistaken, we were all as "stupid" in our own little ways.
"Spot" on, i was trying to find a way to basically say what you said in a much longer and poorly written wall of text but you nailed it straight on the head and avoided me the trouble of doing so.Spot1990 said:
The issue I see is that some teens these days (I should know, I am one) see it as so important that everyone on the internet absolutely loves them, this is why especially younger teens (who seem to be on more and more social networks) act so hurt when someone doesnt like them.
But I believe the media attack on these websites and saying they should be taken down is ridiculous. By their logic: If i was to write you a rude letter explaining things i had apparently done to your mother and how I would like you to be dead, if that letter caused you to kill yourself, would we all get up in arms and blame the royal mail for delivering rude letters? Ofcourse not. That would be fucking ludacris.
Its the imposition of this nanny-state government that tries to mollycoddle everyone and not allow them to face realities that will cause more and more of the youth to be so sensitive to abit of criticism.
But I believe the media attack on these websites and saying they should be taken down is ridiculous. By their logic: If i was to write you a rude letter explaining things i had apparently done to your mother and how I would like you to be dead, if that letter caused you to kill yourself, would we all get up in arms and blame the royal mail for delivering rude letters? Ofcourse not. That would be fucking ludacris.
Its the imposition of this nanny-state government that tries to mollycoddle everyone and not allow them to face realities that will cause more and more of the youth to be so sensitive to abit of criticism.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_CooperDead Century said:
Hes a character from big bang theory who shows no emotion and takes everything from a very logically and scientific
It's not backwards. It's "forwards," for better or worse. The times are changing and more and more people use the web for socialisation. It's not just for dweebs anymore. there are people who use it to communicate with the world. Again, for better or for worse.flarty said:
And yes, teens are "that dense." We're talking about people who are still fucking children. Of course they're that dense. Hannah Smith was fourteen years old. She was a child. The joy of youth is that you think you know everything and you wish the rest of the world could just understand. Some of us never grow out of it.
The flip side is that there are a lot of little monsters out there. They exist within the real world as well as the social network/cuber/cloud thingy. A lot of the cases in which social media "leads" to suicide involve people the kid sees routinely anyway, due to school. In fact, your participation online isn't even necessary, as all it needs to do is to be a ground for things to spread about you and it can work back into the real world. Social media is another tool in a long list of tools bullies can use to harass people.
Simply going off the grid is probably unrealistic, but it's also not really a given solution.
It's kids. Not kids these days. Just kids. It happened when you were young, no matter how your memory has filtered it.
What amazes me is the utter lack of empathy from so many. Especially since this is a site where people go from "that doesn't bother me so I don't see the point" to screaming "NERD BLACKFACE" At The Big Bang Theory.
While I can't back this up with any facts, I disagree entirely. I believe cyber-bullying can be more devastating or at the very least is just as devastating as "real life" bullying for the reasons I gave in my first post. Social networking is "real life" for kids these days, and it's quite easy to see why. I think I've got a profile on every social network you can think of, and I'm in my late twenties. Teenagers, understandably, lap this lifestyle up. It really is everywhere and will continue to be pervasive for years I'm sure.BiH-Kira said:
When I was a teenager, I escaped from my bullies through the internet in the safety of my home. I can't imagine what it must be like for these kids who can't even do that. Their bullies are everywhere, it's nothing like it was years ago.
As for suicide, if you are suicidal it really, really does not matter what your trigger is. The only thing that can possibly help you is professional/medical help. If you are being bullied to the point you are considering suicide (I've been there) saying "just block them" is about as useful as saying "just ignore them", the damage is done, and while, yes, ignoring or blocking the perpetrators is a step to recovering it is not the step. Especially not when it is just as easy for them to continue their abuse via a pseudonym. Which leads me to another point, cyber-bullying can be anonymous, how many stories have we heard about kids being bullied by someone they trusted, using a fake name? Or kids finding that they have been guilty of harassment because someone else has been using their identity?
There are people who are particularly vulnerable and sensitive to this type of abuse. Also, cyber bullying extends beyond a few trolling comments - it's structured, manipulative, and takes place over an extended period of time. For someone susceptible to that kind of abuse it can be too much to take. Also, a large part of the social life for today's youths is based online. You could easily have said to kids my age "if you don't like bullying, don't go out and play, don't go to the school dance, don't hang out with friends in case their acquaintances come along and bully you". It's no way to live a life, and getting excluded can be as bad as the bullying.
It's probably not unreasonable to expect anyone interested enough to express the question of "who" to be capable of doing fifteen seconds of research on Google.Dead Century said:
That's just... confusing.Sanshou said:
What are the timestamps of those messages? Pre or post-mortem?
Because we're either looking at a girl who had some serious issues or a parent trying to divert blame.
Yes. Teenagers are dense. I would know being one myself. But it's not that simple. You CAN stay off the website, you CAN block the bully. But you are told not to do that. Teens are always told to ignore the bullies. Next time you are annoyed or aggravated by someone in the workplace ask yourself "Why don't I quit? Am I really that dense? Am I really so socially backwards that I put my self in a position I don't like?". Hopefully that will put it in some perspective for you. Then there are the teens that ARE socially inept, or as you put it "socially backwards". They usually have some form of low self-esteem. So to come home from school where they are very uncomfortable and/or already bullied, log onto their preferred social media website to converse with their friends only to be faced with more bullying destroys any sense of security they might have. For them, nowhere is safe. They can never relax. They never know who the next person to turn on them is. To deem them "dense" for that is to demonstrate your own incredibly dense view of people who aren't as "awesome" as you.flarty said:
Having been a teenager recently, and having two teenage siblings, I believe that they go through periods of psychosis followed by periods of lucidity. From age thirteen to sixteen it leans heavily towards psychosis, about 75-25, and the progresses slowly towards the normal and mature 15-85.
Some of these psychotic periods can be more severe than others in certain individuals, during which these people can be dangerous to themselves and others. Events of distress or ennui can also bring about stronger reactions.
Thats my hypothesis.
That's the rub, isn't it? The problem with most of this is that people tend to see depression as an emotion rather than a condition, suicide as though it's something done with rational thought, and speech as though it impacts everyone the same way (well, it doesn't bother me, so....)Stasisesque said:
Teens seem to have it worse, and I think a lot of people forget that no matter how lame their dramas were, they were always,, always, ALWAYS cranked up to eleven. Even if your biggest problem was some Saved By The Bell shit where OMG I HAVE TWO DATES FOR THE SAME DANCE, you probably thought it was some big serious deal. That's the joy of growing up. Apparently, part of growing up is also forgetting it.
The "get over it" mentality is quite easy because nothing has to change, and you can go back to being a dick online with no perceived consequences. Rather than your words having weight, it's just someone else being weak.
...Up until it offends you, of course. Because, in typical classy form, a lot of the folks who say "just ignore them" or "get over it" have had their own hyper-emotional issues. But that's different, because it's always different.
