Here's the thing about directing our attention so fully and
passionately toward bullying: The people most affected by it are
sick of talking about it. "Kids are at the eye-rolling stage
with bullying," says Cynthia Lowen, producer and writer of the
2011 documentary "Bully." "They're so inundated with messages
from the media and school and this huge explosion of awareness
over the last few years that it's like, 'Ugh, bullying.'" This
is particularly common during the teen years. "Teenagers think
bullying is something that happens in elementary school," Lowen
says. "They think of it as something they've outgrown." But the
numbers indicate the problem continues to plague kids. Thirteen
million children are bullied each year in the U.S., and 3
million stay home from school because they feel unsafe, the U.S.
Department of Education reports. Kids ages 10 to 17 are more
than twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts if they've been
bullied in the past year, says a recent study in the Archives of
Pediatric and Adoles