Anti Bullying Week is coming. In the U.K. Anti-Bullying Week 2024 will take place from Monday 11th to  Friday 15th November, with the important theme: Choose Respect.  As a bullying culture can develop in any context in which humans regularly interact with one another respect is vital- self respect and respect to others. This year it is reported that the intention of the week’s activities is to empower children and young people to not resort to bullying, even when there is any conflict or disagreement and remind adults to lead by example, both online and offline.

Bullying may of course be defined in many different ways in different places. In the United Kingdom, there is no strict legal definition of the term “bullying”, whereas evidently some states in the United States currently have laws specifically providing against it. Bullying is generally divided into four basic types of abuse: psychological (sometimes called “emotional” or “relational”), verbal, physical, and cyber. There are increasing cases in many places that are being researched now and quite recently regarding the negative phenomenon “cyberbullying”, which takes place in the virtual or electronic world, typically over the internet, which can be both insidious and dangerous.

Bullying as a social phenomenon often occurs early unfortunately among children and young people. It is well understood that bullying can have a huge negative influence on the personality development of all parties concerned – both victim and perpetrator – and may increasingly lead to varying mental disorders as the effects of bullying can manifest in many ways. This can damage a person’s quality and experience of life. Being proactive  to deal with the problem is an important first step in taking actions or having a strategy against bullying. It is said to be crucial to identify the signs as early as possible and to open a conversation with the individuals involved if this is possible.

Being aware of conduct is important. A sudden change in behavior in a child, for example,  may be a sign of bullying as many children who are bullied do not ask for help. A few examples of changes in child’s behavior that are cited are :

• Fear of walking to school or taking the bus
• Tendency to request school absence due to head or stomach ache; or
• Mood becomes stressed, anxious, withdrawn, easily irritable or angry

When being bullied, a victim – whatever their age – can feel constantly insecure and on guard. Even if not actively being bullied, they are  aware and on edge that it could start anytime. It has ongoing mental and emotional impact, feeling lonely or isolated, alone, angry and withdrawn.

The trend is that the more an individual spends time on the internet they more likely to be vulnerable and experience harassment online. The reported root cause of cyberbullying is that people feel more powerful behind a screen and they feel safe as they generally believe that they are anonymous. Meanwhile, high depression and stress rates predicts a higher probability of being a victim of cyberbullying, We all are responsible for our shared well-being. If everyone could be motivated to think of ways to help their peers and each other  instead of taking part in bullying, much of the bullying problem would be eliminated.The fact that nobody usually supports or defends the bullied victim can cause the most suffering for the individual. Bullying does not only weaken the concerned individuals, but also the class community and even affect the quality of the school climate. Moreover it can create personality issues in the longer term and therefore must be dealt with as a matter of urgency, especially when this negative conduct affects young lives. More activities to raise awareness of this growing issue are important for the wellbeing of society as a whole and should be encouraged.

Anti-Bullying Week is an annual UK event held in the third week in November which aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people, in schools and elsewhere and to highlight ways of preventing and responding to it. One essential prerequisite is the perception by the bully or by others that an imbalance of physical or social power exists or is currently present. This perceived presence of physical or social imbalance is what distinguishes the behavior from being being interpreted or perceived as conflict.

Bullying is generally also a group phenomenon often because others want to avoid becoming a victim – again from the time of school onwards unfortunately. For perpetrators bullying seems to be motivated by the pursuit of visibility, power and a high status in the peer group. A commonly used definition of bullying is that it is intentionally and repeatedly causing distress or harm to the same targeted individual. Moreover generally it is difficult for bullied children to defend themselves. Meanwhile bullies need bystanders or spectators who may play different roles in the in person bullying situation. They may reinforce the bully’s behavior by verbal or nonverbal signals that are socially rewarding.

Bullying in schools is widespread unfortunately, with adverse effects on youth and ongoing high costs for societies. Research on bullying prevention seems so far to be focused on average effects of anti-bullying programs and mainly concerned universal, preventive measures. It bridges the perspectives of developmental and social psychology, child psychiatry, and genetics, builds theory on persistent bullying and enables the development of tailored measures for specific target groups where available interventions have failed. There is no doubt that saying NO to bullying in a practical way is a must in order to reverse the negative trend that has been exacerbated by Cyber.

Every bullying situation is of course different and there is not a single right solve all solution. There  are however suggestions to try in order to say NO to bullying:

~  It is important to tell someone about bullying: never keep it to yourself or feel ashamed.
~   Response signals may suggest that bullying is acceptable, or even entertaining. For instance some children  bystanders are more active in assisting the bully and eager to join in the bullying even if they do not typically initiate it themselves. Others might just silently witness what is happening, without acknowledging that the bully might interpret this as an approval of his or her acts.Few students who observe bullying have the courage to intervene or take the victim’s side.
~  Do report bullying to someone you can trust either at school or at home. It can be a schoolmate, a friend, your parents or the teacher. It is the adults’ duty to help you.Look for friends in your class that could help or support you. If you feel too embarrassed to tell the teacher by yourself, ask a friend and do it together.
~ Be assertive. Communicate with your whole body that you will not accept bullying. Stand tall, look the bully in the eye and speak with a clear voice that what you are experiencing is wrong and it should stop immediately. It can work as a first step to stop that situation.
~ If possible, act like you do not care, try to walk away from the situation and go to tell someone about the situation immediately if possible.

Nobody wants to be bullied at any stage in their lives and most hope for a balanced life complete with health and happiness. Bullies should be made to understand that their behaviour is unacceptable every level. This is paramount. Therefore we believe that through the Mission implicit in Eenie’s World we can ensure a practical ongoing campaign to make positive change – see www.Eenie’s world.com