Like many things in our society, bullying has improved, thanks to technology.  There is still “traditional” bullying, involving physical and verbal abuse, but now cyber-bullying has made it even easier to harass people through a phone or a computer. Many students today have to deal with both.

People who have been bullied or those who bully do face consequences. The victim can have many effects such as always being in fear. In an article by Steve Woda he states, “ A single act of bullying can diminish self-esteem that can last a lifetime. They can have increasing feelings of anxiety or depression.”

On the other hand, some of the effects that the bully will face later on can be a lack of confidence and self hate because of the bullying.  In an article by Laura Blume she states, “ Bullies have some additional risk demonstrating a 4-5 time increased risk of antisocial personality disorder… They tend to have more problems holding down jobs, relationships and even drug and alcohol.”

Brie Quia was one of the many victims who’ve experienced “traditional” bullying. She said, “ I was bullied from 6th to 7th grade. I was getting bullied by my only friend at the time. She bullied me for attention because she thought that it would make her seem cool.” Quia was able to stop to it by not being her friend anymore.

Another person who was a victim of “traditional’ bullying was Josephine Cruz. She was bullied all of 8th grade. “I was being bullied by my best friend. She bullied me over a guy she liked at the time, and thought that I liked him too,” she said.  “She would call me names like pinocchio, ugly, fat , etc.” Eventually, it escalated to a physical confrontation. “One day after school she followed me home, and began to fight me.” Cruz said after that she began to defend herself and after that everyone began to back off, and leave me alone.” She was able to overcome all the bullying by playing basketball.

While bullying has always come with some aspect of verbal abuse, the internet and social media have taken it to another level. Alyssa Cortes has suffered from both types of bullying. She has been bullied from 4th- 9th grade (now). “The ‘traditional’ and cyber bullying began in one day in school when me and one of my friends got in an argument, and she began to spread rumors about me. Many of my classmates would call me ugly, fat, and all these mean names,” she said. “They would make hate pages of me and take my photos and just say the meanest things they can think of.” Cortes was affected greatly by it and she had tried to commit suicide by overdosing. “ I tried to commit suicide because I couldn’t take it anymore everything was just getting to me. I had tried to kill myself after moving to a new school.”

It had even came to the point that she had to move schools. She said, “Moving schools didn’t make things better, I got bullied there right away for the way I dressed and for not looking like the other kids.” Cortes was never really able to cope with all the pain that she dealt with. “I just tried to ignore it as much as I could. I don’t really deal with it, I just let it be.”

Schools can do many things to help both the victim and the bully. Naomi Bobadilla, a counselor at Alisal High stated, “ We recommend them to certain agencies depending on how serious the bullying is. Some people think it’s no big deal and think that nothing will happen till they decide to push too far.”

According to Bobadilla, “Many schools, teachers, and administrators are always willing to help. It just takes someone to come up and ask for the help you need. Never feel ashamed or upset to come and talk to someone, because in the end you’re not always alone.”

By Kay Cortes