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Zoomers don't realize we grew up when bullying was acceptable.
It still is acceptable. It's just that today they call it management and human resources.
And GOP politics.
Those also existed back then, in addition to actual IRL bullying well into adulthood. You either learned how to fight, and got into a few, or you were subjected to relentless bullying throughout your life.
Their bullying is way more intrusive and emotionally damaging. We never SWATted each other or to use an app to anonymously and constantly message each other to kill yourself
It's odd, they do seem generally more inclusive and less cliquey, but humans are humans, and that means bullying still happens. The really intense stuff has been empowered by internet anonymity (or short of that, a lack of physical presence and the accompanying repercussions), perfect for your prototypical emotionally damaged coward of a bully.
For those who don't go nuclear, it seems like the main thing is exclusion, but it can be hard to decide when that moves from them simply associating with the people they want, to passive aggressive bullying. I'm sure the number of people cruelly left off the "new" group text for some bullshit reason is pretty large though.
From what I can tell talking to teachers, the public bullying among Gen Z has ebbed (excluding anything gang-related) but the private stuff is way worse. My guess is it's related, given how performative social media is and how much of an influence it has on Gen Z. Not saying Millenials are immune, but we came up in a society that actively cautioned against putting too much of yourself online whereas Gen Z grew up in a post-Facebook society that encouraged it.
Also, behaviors generally across the board are worse post-pandemic. It's apparently like no one knows how to be nice to each other anymore.
I'd rather get anonymously told to kill myself than bashed on the way home from school every day.
"It builds character"
"Boys will be boys"
"Just ignore them..."
Us millennials invented cyberbullying someone into suicide. Imagine killing someone using nothing but AOL Instant Messenger.