I wonder how much money is spent each year researching how best to prevent bullying
I was in a discussion recently about preventing people from trolling, and wondered aloud about how we might get trolls to empathise more with other people, and so stop getting their kicks by making them miserable.
And got a reply along the lines of "There's no such way, or we'd all be doing it, and there wouldn't be any trolls."
Which felt rather like someone from the early 19th century saying "There's no such way to talk to people at a long distance. If there was we wouldn't need to send letters."
I know that there isn't a magic cure that turns off the bully switch in people's heads - but there has to be environemtns that are more or less likely to cause bullying, and ways of dealing with bullies that reduce their reoffending rate.
I took a quick look at the government advice on this and while its heart is clearly in the right place*, it seems remarkably nebulous. I've also seen numerous people on LJ and FB talking about their kids being bullied and the schools not being interested in doing anything about it.
Considering the massive impact that bullying has on people's lives (increased rates of depression, lower academic achievement, worse health), the overall financial cost of bullying to society must be massive. Plus, y'know, the moral case.
Anyone know if there _is_ much invested in this area, and I'm just not aware of it?
*See page 7 for the sections on Prevention and Intervention
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
comments there.
And got a reply along the lines of "There's no such way, or we'd all be doing it, and there wouldn't be any trolls."
Which felt rather like someone from the early 19th century saying "There's no such way to talk to people at a long distance. If there was we wouldn't need to send letters."
I know that there isn't a magic cure that turns off the bully switch in people's heads - but there has to be environemtns that are more or less likely to cause bullying, and ways of dealing with bullies that reduce their reoffending rate.
I took a quick look at the government advice on this and while its heart is clearly in the right place*, it seems remarkably nebulous. I've also seen numerous people on LJ and FB talking about their kids being bullied and the schools not being interested in doing anything about it.
Considering the massive impact that bullying has on people's lives (increased rates of depression, lower academic achievement, worse health), the overall financial cost of bullying to society must be massive. Plus, y'know, the moral case.
Anyone know if there _is_ much invested in this area, and I'm just not aware of it?
*See page 7 for the sections on Prevention and Intervention
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
comments there.