A large part a young person’s social life is spent online. Gone are the days of meeting up at a drive-in movie or Main Street diner. Most interactions between people in today’s society are dominated by retweets and Snapchat streaks. This can lead to an advanced form of the typical school yard bully: the online bully. This type bully is liable to say anything. It doesn’t matter their size or social standing; the screen barrier will protect them.

Whether a target has 5 followers or 5 million, anyone can be bullied. Go on Twitter and search any celebrity’s Twitter handle. Their posts will be followed by thousands of negative comments from everyday people, but celebrities are not the only targets. Every day, your peers, classmates, and friends are bullied on social media. Whether it be a post on a private account or tagging someone in a hateful post, it happens all the time.

Social media sources like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat are meant to entertain and connect others but they are constantly used to put people down. According to the FBI, anywhere from 5 to 72 percent of kids have experienced cyberbullying. This is such a wide range because the definition of cyberbullying can be interpreted in different ways. However, the fact remains that cyberbullying runs rampant through society.

Five percent might seem small, but there were 53.9 million people within the 5-17 year old age range in the 2010 census. This means that around 2.7 million kids have been a victim of online bullying. To put that into perspective, that would equate to every single student at ACHS being bullied online 2000 times over.

To the bullies: why? Bullying serves only to demean others. Instead of fighting others, be the bigger and better person. Give it a try. You just may find that it feels better to build others up than to tear them down.