In June 2014, a nationwide survey stated 14.8% of students had been cyberbullied, including being bullied through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, social media websites, or texting, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) report, by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). From June 2011, to June 2014, the percent of students that have reported being cyber-bullied has jumped up 5.8%.

How is cyberbulling different from bullying? Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can reach a student even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time of the day or night. Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source. Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent. Because of the creation of anonymous social media websites, cyberbullying has become more popular and easier to perform. Websites such as “Ask.fm” or the recently developed “Yik Yak”, give kids the power to anonymously ask other kids questions or say things anonymously. Although many kids would claim to not use the anonymous sites, most do.

Why are people being allowed to make these anonymous social media websites? Yik Yak is said to have an age restriction on their website, but it is easily passed by many people younger than the age limit. The only people really using it for what it was made for, is adults. Regardless of the age of people using these websites, or the context in which they use them, cyberbullying is becoming a serious problem. A problem I think teachers, us students and other adults can solve by encouraging others to not purchase or download the app.

AHS junior, Morgan Johnston said that “Many students use Yik Yak and I’ve seen some vicious attacks. That shouldn’t be okay, it can really make a person feel bad about themselves.” Because Yik Yak is anonymous, a lot of students take advantage to spill their feelings to the Internet. In all reality, these students wouldn’t say anything in person. As great as our generation’s technology is, it also allows people to hide behind the screens of phone, computers and other devices. Although Alliance’s use of Yik Yak has not been addressed, a lot of students have deleted the app due to the negative comments spoken by many. I can only hope that students continue to avoid these anonymous websites, and if they chose to use them, do it appropriately.