According to a new study from Florida Atlantic University, cyberbullying is on the rise among children ranging from 12 to 17 years of age. But the poll discovered something a bit more disturbing that that – quite a few of these kids are actually bullying…themselves? It seems hard to believe, but thems the facts, mate. It seems that today’s victimization culture is so ingrained that it has begun to lure teenagers into its web of nuttiness so they, too, can claim the mantle of that sweet, sweet oppression they hear so much about.
After all, if you can’t be the best at life, you can at least let everyone know how miserable you are!
In a study of 6,000 middle and high school students, the college found that one in 20 students had cyberbullied themselves from their own anonymous accounts, and approximately 13% of those students admitted to engaging in that bizarre and self-destructive behavior “many times.” A full third of the self-cyberbullies said they had done it at least a few times. Now count in the number of students who couldn’t admit to such an inane practice – because, frankly, some things you probably can’t even admit anonymously…or perhaps even to yourself – and pump up the numbers on those who say they only did it once or twice, and you could have a rather widespread epidemic on your hands. Hell, even if we take the numbers as they are, this is some sick stuff.
According to the Cleburne Times-Review, some students were more inclined to this nonsense than others. “Those teenagers who were surveyed in the study that identified as ‘non-heterosexual’ were three times more likely to bully themselves online, while victims of cyberbullying were 12 times more likely to have also cyberbullied themselves.”
We’ll take Sentences That Make You Wonder if You’re Dreaming for $500, Alex.
But seriously, it would be easy to make this all about leftist snowflake culture and the perils of our collective Preciousness Syndrome, but this is some seriously weird stuff and these kids need help. This kind of behavior speaks to something deeply wrong in our culture that goes beyond the Oppression Olympics. You don’t start cyberbullying yourself on the internet unless something is fundamentally missing in your life. Whether that something is good parenting, God, or just some plain old time away from the SCREEN, we’re not sure, but this is a canary-in-the-coal-mine story if we’ve ever heard one.
