Is bullying in high schools getting worse?

[Bluedoor11]

Just that really. I live in a fairly nice area with low crime etc, but my son’s high school seems to have major issues with bullying / anti-social behaviour. The issues are all over social media, WhatsApp groups etc. And this is supposed to be a good school. Talking to friends / colleagues who also have kids in high school, bullying seems to be fairly common nowadays. AIBU in thinking that bullying is getting worse, or is it just that we are more aware due to social media etc?

No, I think it's just more visible because of SM.

I was actually watching a film the other day with my daughters who are in year 8 and year 10 and there was a scene where a kid was being (verbally) bullied and they were quite shocked by it, I asked them if they saw stuff like that at school and they said no, never. It was very commonplace at my secondary school so I was pleasantly surprised that they haven't had to witness anything like that.

Honestly I think it’s an awful lot better than when I was at school. Early noughties you had to fit into a very very narrow box of what was acceptable and if you looked or dressed or liked what was outside that then heaven help you. There were about 3 acceptable pairs of trainers you could have. I remember someone lost their gym bag and they had to use a value supermarket carrier bag for the day and they were hounded for it.

These days kids are much more varied in their personal style and interests and I think it’s much more “accepted” by their peers.

All of my teen DC’s friends are staunchly against anything racist/homophobic/disablist/body shaming etc and you’re fairly likely to be ostracised for making comments about any of those things.

Social media.

I believe SM has just extended the reach of bullying. Even kids who aren't bullies as such will get roped into discussions online that are a bit mean and they possibly wouldn't have gone there without SM in their life.

Then you look at YouTubers and the comments section. People are beyond unkind now. People who probably would have kept their mouth closed in the past but this new vehicle enables them to voice their opinions and often it's tactless and unkind.

You've got loads more SEN kids now,in mainstream school. They will be both bullied and the bully at times and may be significantly more at risk of this due to being different.

So id say in many ways yes it's worse because of the above. But what's somewhat better I think is that young people have more of a voice and are listened to slightly better now. In the past they would have been told to just shut up, get on with it, and probably given a whack by the teacher and then dad back home.

From what my kids tell me it sounds a lot better than when I was at school. A lot of it just never got dealt with or reported when I was younger. Stuff happened with me and I never even told my parents let alone them get in touch with school etc. I'm saying this as nowadays it's better/ a positive thing by the way!
I do thing we are now much more aware of what is going on... WhatsApp etc...

I doubt it is getting any worse. When I was at school bullying was rife. There were loads of people who got punched, kicked or made to feel stupid on a daily basis.

The difference was that back then there was no social media, no anti bullying policy. The teachers and school did very little about it unless it became very serious.

I’m on my son’s high school Facebook page and the things you hear from other parents about bullying etc are awful. And then all the stuff you hear in the news about knife crime is scary. But yes I think social media is just making us more aware of the issue. Sometimes I feel we are vilifying an entire generation, particularly young boys.