It’s odd, they do seem generally more inclusive and less cliquey, but humans are humans, and that means bullying still happens. The really intense stuff has been empowered by internet anonymity (or short of that, a lack of physical presence and the accompanying repercussions), perfect for your prototypical emotionally damaged coward of a bully.
For those who don’t go nuclear, it seems like the main thing is exclusion, but it can be hard to decide when that moves from them simply associating with the people they want, to passive aggressive bullying. I’m sure the number of people cruelly left off the “new” group text for some bullshit reason is pretty large though.
From what I can tell talking to teachers, the public bullying among Gen Z has ebbed (excluding anything gang-related) but the private stuff is way worse. My guess is it’s related, given how performative social media is and how much of an influence it has on Gen Z. Not saying Millenials are immune, but we came up in a society that actively cautioned against putting too much of yourself online whereas Gen Z grew up in a post-Facebook society that encouraged it.
Also, behaviors generally across the board are worse post-pandemic. It’s apparently like no one knows how to be nice to each other anymore.
It’s odd, they do seem generally more inclusive and less cliquey, but humans are humans, and that means bullying still happens. The really intense stuff has been empowered by internet anonymity (or short of that, a lack of physical presence and the accompanying repercussions), perfect for your prototypical emotionally damaged coward of a bully.
For those who don’t go nuclear, it seems like the main thing is exclusion, but it can be hard to decide when that moves from them simply associating with the people they want, to passive aggressive bullying. I’m sure the number of people cruelly left off the “new” group text for some bullshit reason is pretty large though.
From what I can tell talking to teachers, the public bullying among Gen Z has ebbed (excluding anything gang-related) but the private stuff is way worse. My guess is it’s related, given how performative social media is and how much of an influence it has on Gen Z. Not saying Millenials are immune, but we came up in a society that actively cautioned against putting too much of yourself online whereas Gen Z grew up in a post-Facebook society that encouraged it.
Also, behaviors generally across the board are worse post-pandemic. It’s apparently like no one knows how to be nice to each other anymore.