VERBAL INSULTS, GOSSIPING
Child welfare groups CNA spoke to said bullying is under-reported and is not limited to physical acts.
Emotional or relational bullying can happen anywhere, such as online, and can include non-stop racist remarks, name-calling, or verbal insults.
“What we do hear more of is actually the more covert ones, so in terms of like gossiping, spreading rumours, intentionally excluding somebody from the group chat, or in terms of like social group activities,” said Ms Vivyan Chee, deputy director and senior counsellor at the Singapore Children’s Society.
This has a big impact on children and youth, who view being accepted as critical at their developmental stage, she added.
The organisation operates an anti-bully hotline that receives four calls on average every week. Ms Chee said about 40 per cent of the youths they work with have reported being bullied.
Experts said technology exacerbates the problem, allowing bullies to stay anonymous online or even use deepfakes.
These unseen forms of bullying are why welfare groups said the number of cases could be higher. They said greater attention must be given to these insidious types of torment due to the long-term impact.
“How do I come out to say that I’ve been bullied when I have no battle scars? And is it a matter of me not being resilient, or am I really being bullied?” noted TOUCH Community Services’ deputy director Andrea Chan.
“So even for the victims themselves, they might have been experiencing it for some time that they no longer are able to differentiate whether it is bullying or whether it is lack of resilience on their part.”
While the prevalence of bullying has remained “quite stable” in the last one or two decades, Asst Prof Cheung said the acts are more widely circulated due to children having greater access to mobile devices.
