High school isn’t easy for anyone. It’s one of the hardest times in most people’s lives. Everyone is pushing you to plan your future, peer pressure, school, and trying to enjoy the good times. There will always be the bullies and the mean girls and there always have been. However, with social media becoming more popular in schools, the ability to be this person has become significantly easier and the chances of being the victim are significantly increased.

Many times, the bully may see their words as harmless or a joke. They might even think they’re being helpful. Many bullies don’t care about how what they say affects others. Before social media was mainstream, people would have to cause issues in person, but on social media, you can do anything. You could send a text, you could make a post, you could tag someone in the post, and even more bizarre is  the ability to do so anonymously. The options are endless, but not harmless. Many times online and in person bullying can cause the victim to have many mental health issues that can lead to extremes as far as suicide. 

While the bully gets away in good conscience, the victim may struggle with many things. Oftentimes bullying attacks a person’s looks or character traits. The victim may lack self worth and self confidence. It’s much easier to post about someone online to attack them though. Recently, I saw a post where a student had taken a picture of me, captioned it, “at least i’m pretty”, and proceeded to post it. I confronted the student that posted it in person, but they ignored me as online harassers often do. There are hundreds of posts like that one sent out on a daily basis. It’s so much easier than we think for these posts to get spread around.

If you have ever had an issue with bullying, tell someone. Parents, teachers, counselors, and friends will always help you deal with bullies and harassers. Reporting any online harassment to the site you found it on and removing the person from your life can help minimize the issue. There is no true escape from bullies, but you can always ignore them and disallow them to have any power over you.