I don’t miss dial-up internet, I just don’t. I don’t even like the sound because it’s just digital screeches and it’s a sound that makes me cringe a little upon hearing it. Because I remember the times when I’d be listening to music with headphones with volume high and then that fucking digital screech just blares into my ears.
I don’t miss waiting 30 minutes to load a page. I don’t miss a bit of it.
In my opinion, the bullying is still as alive as it ever was. Kids are just better at masking it. There is definitely more acceptance for LGBT, neurodivergent, and kids that would be considered outside the “norm” nowadays. But, teenagers have a strange capacity for cruelty to one another, it is just a different type of cruelty than past generations.
I’d also argue as someone thats experienced schooling more recently than many other Lemmy users, the methodology of bullying has changed. My parents always told stories of being physically assaulted by other kids as a form of bullying. My experience was being falsely reported for all sorts of crimes, funnily enough only to the school and never to actual authorities who could properly prove my innocence. Being accused of having and sharing drugs as well as death threats over anonymous messaging platforms is still most definitely bullying, though the style of violence and persuasion have changed.
I coach kids, and false reporting has become an issue recently. We take every report seriously and have to investigate/escalate each case individually. I have seen two different teenagers admit to maliciously reporting another kid when their stories were questioned or enough time had passed that they no longer felt vengeful toward the other person. The systems for reporting bullying/abuse/crimes are a huge step in the right direction from the past strategy of ignorance. I don’t know how to impart to kids that false claims damage the entire social system we have in place for keeping them safe.
I’m so glad to hear that this is something actually being thought about. It hurts extra because I know that the cases of false reports will then take resources away from cases that may be urgent. I don’t intend to dump emotional info but I genuinely feel that this affected my self-concept as a whole and still have an issue with presuming my own guilt. I’m still trying to take my time to build my own concept from reality and not the false reality others tried to impart on me. It sucks because these systems of believing reporters are of course better than ignorance. However, if we continue with this route of handling justice it will turn to case-by-case deliberation, which can be extremely difficult and then harmful biases can come into play.
Hopefully you are never going to experience this shit again, schools are like part-time jails and people behave accordongly.
Children who have grownup bodies and are supposed to be behaving like adults by now also bully using false reports.