When people are being bullied, bullying, and observing bullying, each situation is sensitive. Children and teenagers can become overwhelmed with emotion, leading to them not being able to handle these situations in the most efficient way for themselves.

When there has to be analysis done to be able to quantify, and hopefully solve, a particular problem, first that problem must be defined. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Education released the current definition of bullying.

This definition includes three core elements: unwanted, aggressive behavior, observed or perceived power imbalance, and repetition of behaviors, or high likelihood of repetition. It includes two modes: direct bullying, which occurs in the presence of a targeted youth, and indirect bulling, not directly communicated to a target (such as spreading rumors). Lastly, it includes four types of broad categories of bullying: physical, verbal, relational (efforts to harm the reputation or relationships of the target), and damage to property.

It’s important that the population as a whole not only knows, but understands the definition of bullying. In an ideal world, once people have the knowledge to stop a problem, if they observe it happening they will put an end to it that moment. This is obviously easier said than done.

The statistics of bullying wouldn’t be as hard to swallow if it was easier to know when bullying is happening. Of course there are places and times that children and teenagers will be alone with each other and without adult supervision. This is inevitable. However, one possible solution to end this problem before it even begins could be to educate children at a much younger age about bullying and knowing all of the resources available to them if they’re having problems.

As someone who has experienced bullying, cyber bullying, and seeing others bullied, it’s hard to be able to know what to do when faced with such circumstances. Hopefully now that bullying has been defined it will be easier to terminate this awful problem, once and for all.