RESPECT AND LOVE : SAY NO TO BULLYING
National Commission for Child Protection (Komisi Perlindungan Anak Indonesia, abbreviated as KPAI) has recorded approximately 2.355 violation towards children’s protection up until August 2023. This data does not yet include the number of cases which are not reported to KPAI. Dysfunctional household, not so-family-friendly television and social media, low effort from school’s policy in creating safe environment as well as self-control are several factors that might cause bullying cases. Violent dominance of online game as well as lack of parental supervision are also other reasons for bullying to occur.
Worry from many party, especially parents as well as school board have arisen with above data as well as extreme cases that has been revealed. Therefore, Community Service Team from Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Gunadarma, in cooperation with the Elementary School of Global Islamic Lab School – Depok held a psychoeducation activity with theme of RESPECT AND LOVE : SAY NO TO BULLYING. It aimed to increase the awareness of students about the result of bullying both for perpetrators as well as for victims.
What is Bullying?
The speakers in this psychoeducation are explaining about bullying, its examples of what considers as bullying behavior, many parties who are involved, and of course the psychological impact both for the perpetrators and victims.
Bullying is:
- Terrible and unpleasant behavior, verbally, physically, and socially
- It is done by someone or a group of people
- It is done intentionally such as inflicting pain, causing uncomfortableness, causing stress and pressure, as well as inflicting fear
- It can be done both in real world as well as in virtual world
What are the behaviors that is considered as bullying?
In this occasion, students are presented with knowledge about types of bullying in the hopes that they would understand more and be more cautious when interacting with their friends.
Bullying itself is a behavior of inflicting fear (especially to force other people to do something) which is divided into several form as follows :
Physical: Hitting, slapping, pushing, biting, kicking, pinching, clawing, sexual harrasment
Verbal: Insulting / humiliating / threatening / disturbing / condescending someone about their physical characteristics and appearance (e.g. height, weight, outfit, glasses), ridiculing the way one speaks or their accent, and referring them with their disabilities or impairment
Social: The use of many methods to ruin someone’s social relationship and reputation, ignoring their presence, isolating them from circle of friends or group play, as well as spreading rumors about them
Cyberbullying
In today’s era of technology, children cannot be separated from their gadget and in turn with social media. Social media provides an environment where people can make statement about what and how they feel using insult and blasphemous words in various platform. In psychology, the use of electronic media / digital technology to hurt other people through social media, chatting, and games is called cyberbullying.
The types of cyberbullying are as follows:
- Defamation / lying about other people
- Angering / humiliating other people
- Posting someone’s picture without their permission
- Posting hurtful and embarrasing pictures / comments
- Spreading hoax
- Sowing hatred on someone
Bullying ini can put many people in disadvantages, such as victims, perpetrators, as well as bystanders (uninvolved party who are around when bullying is occured)
For Victims : Being afraid of going to school, physical and psychological wound, feeling embarrased, scared, trauma, not confident, wanting to take revenge, declining of academic achievement, and could also cause mental disturbance to the point of wanting to kill oneself
For perpetrators: Unstable emotion, being disliked and avoided by friends, receiving punishment from teacher / schools, being expelled from school and entering juvenile detention center / prison for adolescent.
What can be done for bullying prevention
Having the courage to say NO to bullying, Being courageous to report bullying to other people (teachers and parents), helping and support victims, learning to accept difference in everyone, and building a positive friendship
Students are not just listening to the materials. They are also presented with a situation / example of bullying and then they discuss about how to solve this case
During this occasion, all facilitators give an ice breaking time in order to make situation more fun. If students ask questions or if they can answer some questions from speakers / facilitators, they are given a token of appreciation. Hopefully, this activities can be beneficial for everyone who are involved and can increase students’ awareness of the danger of bullying
