Social Isolation Essay

The experience of being avoided and ignored is not a pleasant one. It often makes one feel unwanted and depressed. Bullying by isolation is a common practice for school-aged kids these days, and it has devastating emotional effects. The type of damage that is done by this particular form of bullying is psychological, and as a result, people who experience it show no physical signs of suffering. This makes it far more difficult to bring to light than physical bullying, meaning it is much harder for victims to get help. This social isolation also generally goes unnoticed because teens never report it to adults. There are many reasons for this, and one of which is that they want to handle their own problems. Another is that they feel guilty if they burden others with their issues. Bullying through exclusion works by isolating an individual from groups, activities and conversations. There are many theories as to why people exclude others, one of which is that people don’t learn how to exclude, but that it is a natural desire “To show that we have power, we cannot accept them, so we leave them out. Or to cement ourselves as a group - to be a stronger ‘we’ - we’ll identify a ‘them’.” Other reasons
One of which is loss of self confidence. When people are avoided, they feel as if it is their fault, which in turn causes them to feel bad about themselves. Another damaging effect of social isolation is loneliness. Humans are social creatures, so when we are left out we feel lonely. This can lead to anxiety, high stress levels, depression and in extreme cases, suicide. Other effects cause people to feel “Lonely, obsessed, angy and out of control.” (Flinn, 254). These effects tend to worsen the problem, because they make a person come off as cold and unfriendly. As a result of this type of bullying, the victims are faced with a snowball effect of repercussions, which is very difficult to stop once