There are many different forms of bullying.  No one form is more or less hurtful than the other. As we grow up we are taught in almost every grade that bullying is bad and being a bystander is bad. They don’t tell us at the time how inevitable it is that we are going to be bullied. According to "dosomething.org", 3.2 million students are bullied each year and 160,000 skip school due to bullying. I’m not saying since bullying in this day and age is practically inevitable that we should be working on developing thicker skin, although that is one method. I’m saying that we should be working together to stop bullying. 

            With today’s technology it makes it almost impossible to hide or to escape. Living in a small town like Wellsboro where everyone knows your name and knows who you are sure doesn’t help. We are all treating each other poorly yet we all have one thing in common. Each and every one of us knows what it feels like to be bullied. To be called a name or made out to feel like we are less than we actually are. I’ve done lots of research on this particular topic and since found out that most websites suggest the best way to stop bullying is to stop it before it occurs, but how is a school administrator supposed to control what a student texts, tweets, comments, or posts about another student?

            Over the summer an app was released called “After School.” After school is an app in which students from a designated school can anonymously post things. In other words, it’s an app in which students can anonymously post things about other students without anyone knowing who posted it. I speak from personal experience that waking up every day and reading anonymous things about yourself that aren’t true and not having the power to shut it down is devastating. You can try to tell people things people are posting about you aren’t true, but once its online, there’s no stopping it. People who post and insult behind a computer screen are no funnier or less mean then those who bully face to face. If anything its more harmful. People often think that being mean over the internet or online is not bad and should be read as a joke. It’s not read as a joke.

            Just yesterday I was on YouTube watching a video by comedian, “Amy Schumer.”  People who didn’t like her comedy took to the comments to write insulting things about her appearance or her personality. Which of course leaves me wondering, why did you watch the video if you don’t like her? Or why did you have to comment something? By commenting something insulting you are going out of your way to hurt someone and over a screen you can’t see the hurt your causing, so you think it’s okay. It is never okay and it stops now.

            I am asking you as one teenager to another to stop. Not only to stop, but to just think. Think before you post, tweet, comment, text, speak. Think. If I was the person on the other end of this post, tweet, comment, text, or sentence, would I be okay? Or would it hurt me. You never know how much what you say will affect someone else. In both a positive and a negative way. If we have enough power to effect the way someone views themselves in a negative way shouldn’t we have the power to change that too. Shouldn’t we have the power to stand up and say, this stops now.

            To help bullying stop you can log onto http://rachelschallenge.org/about-us?gclid=CPylgfOP-s8CFY9ahgod3KQJ6w.