Whether the perpetrator or the victim, most of us have experienced bullying at some point in our lives. According to dosomething.org, 3.4 million students are victims of bullying every year.

Bullying is a prominent part of our everyday lives. From school to home, we witness or experience it often.

Most people associate bullying with being physical, but that is not the only kind of bullying. According to the National Centre Against Bullying, there are four types of bullying: physical, verbal, covert, and cyberbullying. Covert bullying is a type of verbal bullying that includes spreading rumors, taking behind one’s back, teasing etc.

Bullying can be associated with gender. For example, verbal bullying tends to be more common amongst girls and physical bullying is popular among boys. Covert can happen amongst both genders.

With ever-growing access to technology, bullying has become an even bigger issue. Cyberbullying, has become a serious issue in our society. According to Merriam Webster, cyberbullying is “the act of harassing someone online by sending or posting mean messages, usually anonymously.”

In today’s society, this type of bullying has become popular due to certain multimedia sites such as the former Formspring and AskFm. These sites are meant to be used to allow users to comment on other peoples pages anonymously, allowing them to ask or say whatever they want. These platforms allow users to be mean or even vicious, because they know that whatever they post will end up being anonymous.

Bullying can turn into a never-ending cycle. Often times, the bully has been bullied or abused intheir past. Bullying is unhealthy and needs to end. According tostopbullying.gov, some things bullying can cause are “depression and anxiety, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and increased feelings of sadness and loneliness.”

Bullying affects all of us, not just the bully and victim. Everyone else becomes a bystander or a silent witness, and the majority of witnesses don’t do anything to stop it. Witnesses are affected because they may experience depression, anxiety, or feel unsafe at their school, according to stopbully.org.

Our country can fix this problem by educating students on the harms and dangers of bullying. When students become aware of the dangers, they can stand up against bullying and make a change.