Kids can be mean. I still hear the prepubescent voices of my middle school peers calling me “fat jungle fever girl.” Just seeing it on the computer screen makes my stomach turn. Present day kids have their own painful insults to hurl, but now they have Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, and Twitter to keep reminding others of how undesirable someone thinks they are. Where you could once escape the putdowns of others with a bus ride home, kids today are in constant communication with their peers, even those they don’t particularly like. A 2013 study found that 20% of young people experienced extreme cyberbullying on a daily basis. Every day, some kids can expect to scroll through the notifications on their phones only to find that someone has decided to make them the target of online bullying. These incidents often bleed between school and home. I’ve had students come up to me in the two months we’ve been in school this year to talk about another student spreading rumors about them on Instagram and texting screenshots of their conversations to their “enemies.” The drama is incessant and it has real consequences. “According to the American Association of Suicidology, rates for suicide among 10 to 14 year olds has grown 50% over the last three decades.” The Jason Foundation provides some startling statistics about tween and teen suicide:
o Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
o Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
o More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED.
o Each day in our nation there are an average of over 5,400 attempts by young people grades 7-12.
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o Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
o Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
o More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED.
o Each day in our nation there are an average of over 5,400 attempts by young people grades 7-12.
Read more...