The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood • Hacker News Board

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#11

Post by boringuser2 » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:29 AM UTC

klipt wrote: post #9

There's the issue of correlation vs causation here. There is no controlled experiment where children are randomly assigned to control or test group and those in the test group are bullied (that would be unethical). It's plausible there are many root factors that contribute both to negative life outcomes, and also increase the chance of being bullied. E.g. being disabled, or autistic, or even just ugly. That would cau…

This is the obvious issue.

It's reasonable to assume that kids whom are bullied have socially undesirable qualities vis-a-vis kids who are not bullied. Kids with socially undesirable qualities are obviously more likely to become adults with socially undesirable qualities.

There's no reason to think those people wouldn't perform worse when they are literally selected for negative qualities.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#12

Post by smeej » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:29 AM UTC

I know it says these outcomes are independent of other adverse childhood experiences, but I wonder if it really is as much worse as it feels when the parent responsible for your other ACEs is your childhood bully.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#13

Post by copperx » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:31 AM UTC

Before bullying was eliminated from schools, bullying was pervasive, and I know several friends who were bullied throughout their schooling. The emotional scars and struggles with self-esteem they faced lasted long after the bullying itself stopped.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#14

Post by HeOwnsTwitter » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:35 AM UTC

CamelCaseName wrote: post #7

HeOwnsTwitter wrote: post #2

Yep, age 7 and 11 were peak bullying ages. Verbal and physical abuse, scapegoating. Ignored and blamed by administration. Parents from an era where “boys will be boys”. Now: Homeless and broke. Out of work for a long time. I let people shit all over me, even in adulthood. I was told that adulthood would be different. In fact, it was the same as childhood, but more insidious. I pray for death being unable to commit su…

Demoralization campaign..?

Yes, for instance if a big tech company knows that a person is demoralized already (for example, out of work and isolated), and if a major life trauma event occurs for that person, create a satirical and insulting depiction of that trauma event for the person unannounced on their personalized feed. They will never know for sure whether it was intentional, which will add to the stress and demoralization effect. The big tech parter could conceivably then measure their response to help refine the psychological warfare weapon.

Another technique is to use past trauma events such a divorce or childhood abuse as part of customized content on one’s feed.

Without transparency, how could one know if this was being done intentionally or not? Big tech valuations are largely tied to information asymmetry and secrecy as such. What power could they enjoy over a user if the user was able to see all of the data they hoard and how it’s being used in full transparent detail?

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#15

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:37 AM UTC

boringuser2 wrote: post #11

klipt wrote: post #9

There's the issue of correlation vs causation here. There is no controlled experiment where children are randomly assigned to control or test group and those in the test group are bullied (that would be unethical). It's plausible there are many root factors that contribute both to negative life outcomes, and also increase the chance of being bullied. E.g. being disabled, or autistic, or even just ugly. That would cau…

This is the obvious issue. It's reasonable to assume that kids whom are bullied have socially undesirable qualities vis-a-vis kids who are not bullied. Kids with socially undesirable qualities are obviously more likely to become adults with socially undesirable qualities. There's no reason to think those people wouldn't perform worse when they are literally selected for negative qualities.

what are socially undesirable qualities?

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#16

Post by woopsn » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:37 AM UTC

boringuser2 wrote: post #11

klipt wrote: post #9

There's the issue of correlation vs causation here. There is no controlled experiment where children are randomly assigned to control or test group and those in the test group are bullied (that would be unethical). It's plausible there are many root factors that contribute both to negative life outcomes, and also increase the chance of being bullied. E.g. being disabled, or autistic, or even just ugly. That would cau…

This is the obvious issue. It's reasonable to assume that kids whom are bullied have socially undesirable qualities vis-a-vis kids who are not bullied. Kids with socially undesirable qualities are obviously more likely to become adults with socially undesirable qualities. There's no reason to think those people wouldn't perform worse when they are literally selected for negative qualities.

You are very far out of touch.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#17

Post by boringuser2 » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:38 AM UTC

copperx wrote: post #13

Before bullying was eliminated from schools, bullying was pervasive, and I know several friends who were bullied throughout their schooling. The emotional scars and struggles with self-esteem they faced lasted long after the bullying itself stopped.

You can't force a social group to be accepting of people.

'Bullied' or not, these people will be scarred by being rejected from the social group in any context that they have interactions with their peers. There will always be people who are rejected by their social group for various reasons.

It's extremely jarring because in ancient times it generally foretold literal death. I remember it feeling like that sometimes.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#18

Post by MaxfordAndSons » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:39 AM UTC

copperx wrote: post #13

Before bullying was eliminated from schools, bullying was pervasive, and I know several friends who were bullied throughout their schooling. The emotional scars and struggles with self-esteem they faced lasted long after the bullying itself stopped.

> bullying was eliminated from schools

It was? Not that I've been in primary school in a few decades, but I find this claim exceedingly hard to believe.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#19

Post by mlhpdx » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:39 AM UTC

I was bullied as a child, and it is something I remember vividly to this day. As a result I was kept in at recess, found a computer, played a game on it, figured out how to make little modifications to it, and… a couple stints each at VPE and CTO haven’t been so bad.

I’m lucky. That teacher was exceptional.

Re: The adult consequences of being bullied in childhood

#20

Post by goodluckchuck » Sat, Feb 17, 2024, 3:39 AM UTC

tinycombinator wrote: post #6

HeOwnsTwitter wrote: post #2

Yep, age 7 and 11 were peak bullying ages. Verbal and physical abuse, scapegoating. Ignored and blamed by administration. Parents from an era where “boys will be boys”. Now: Homeless and broke. Out of work for a long time. I let people shit all over me, even in adulthood. I was told that adulthood would be different. In fact, it was the same as childhood, but more insidious. I pray for death being unable to commit su…

Could you elaborate on "demoralization campaign" and the "psychological warfare" happening?

Facebook published research years ago showing the ability to manipulate users’ moods by changing the content on their feed and measuring engagement / sentiment of their subsequent posts.