Moving off to college can often be a big change for many incoming students. Most are excited about the freedoms that come with college and forgetting the skeletons that high school had locked away. When you finally get into the dorms and find yourself all settled with your roommate, that should be that. Nothing out of the ordinary should happen. Of course the occasional fight, but it should mostly be smooth sailing until the end of the school year. For some, that’s how the college experience goes. For others, they may face more hardships than sisterhood.
How do you know if your roommate is bullying you? Well, there are six types of bullying in college that all students need to be aware of. First, there’s physical bullying. Luckily, according to trade-schools.net, physical bullying is the least common form of bullying in college; however, it does still occur. Physical bullying includes, but is not limited to: using physical actions to intimidate or control another person, hitting, kicking, slapping, or stealing and damaging another person’s personal possessions.
Next, there’s verbal bullying. This type of bullying tends to be more common in college, as the victim cannot always prove that those things were indeed said. Verbal bullying can include but is not limited to frequent name-calling, insults, and threats.
Lastly, there’s cyberbullying. In 2019, the American Counseling Association found that up to 22 percent of college students have reported being bullied online, and at least 38 percent knew someone who also suffered from online bullying. Cyberbullying includes, but is not limited to: sending threatening messages through various messaging platforms, posting embarrassing pictures, revealing embarrassing information about another person in a caption or in a person’s story, or hack into a person’s social media accounts and post private information about the victim’s lives.
Bullying, unfortunately, does not end in college. For most students, bullying in college is much harder to deal with as they do not have their family or close friends with them. For most students, they internalize their bully’s comments and allow for the bully to continue harassing them until it is oftentimes too late. Not only does this hurt the victim, but it also allows the bully to continue without repercussions for their actions.
When students are urged to report the problem, most are afraid. They fear that telling an adult or a person in power, their bully will find out and there will be retaliation.
For most students, standing up to a bully may feel like the most challenging obstacle he or she has ever faced. If you, a friend, or someone else you know are being bullied, never be afraid to report it. Bullying is an epidemic in today’s society, and in order to cure a disease, it will take everyone. To cure bullying, we all need to show a little more kindness and compassion to everyone we meet. You never know what’s going on in someone else’s life, and who knows, a simple smile could make all the difference in someone’s day.