Many people in society don’t realize how dangerous the internet is. When people are behind screens of electronic devices, they feel like they can do and say whatever they want.

In my opinion, cyber bullies are cowards. They only say the mean things they do because they are too scared to actually say it to someone’s face. But yet they still have the ability to make the victims feel terrible about themselves.

Sadly, cyber bullying can be so harsh that it can sometimes lead to the victim developing depression, or even worse, committing suicide.

In Huffington Post’s story Cyber bullying And Depression Go Hand In Hand, According To New Study, Stephanie Pappas wrote, “Ten studies examined the link between social media victimization and depression, and all of them found a connection.”

I believe people should look out for one another and take action in the situation even if you are a witness. Statistics from nobullying.com show that an astounding 95% of teens who witnessed bullying on social media report that others, like them, have ignored the behavior.

New York Times’ Anna North believes that bystanders really do want to help you. North interviews Kelly P. Dillon (a graduate in communication at Ohio State University) and Dillon said, “’Victims of cyber bullying can feel alone’, she said. ‘However, my data suggests that people notice, people see what’s going on, and they don’t approve, and they just need more tools to help you.’”

This helps us to understand that bystanders do want to help, but they feel that they don’t want to get involved in the situation and make themselves become a victim as well.

There are many new social media sites and apps that people can use to bully one another. But it seems that the worst new social media site that was created to bully others is called burn book which was inspired by the movie Mean Girls. It allows you to join a community and post hurtful audio messages, comments, and pictures anonymously.

Other social media cites such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook also give people the opportunity to bully others. But, the people who help run these apps and sites take posts that are reported very seriously.

Italian teacher Mrs. Fini-Sanson has a lot of hatred towards cyber bullying. She said, “My opinion on cyber bullying is that it is an atrocity. I feel really terrible that kids have to go through this and there are kids that think it is ok to bully whether face to face, in school, or on the internet. It makes me sad that high school is already a tough age and teenagers is a tough period of life but then they have to face this aspect of being bullied on the internet or if they are a bully on the internet.”

Teenagers are under a lot of stress especially in school and drama and to add the fear of being bullied can really ruin their self- confidence.

Fini-Sanson also said, “I hate the fact that we even have the term cyber bullying and that we have to create it because when I was in school there was no such thing.”

With new social media coming out, cyber bullying is definitely at the worst it has ever been especially because more kids take advantage of the internet way more than ever before.

Social media sites and apps do a better job now at trying to keep up with cases of cyber bullying however, I still feel that more bystanders should be aware of what is going on and help the situation get better and not worse.