Cyber bullying has been a problem ever since cell phones started showing up at schools. However a recent incident involving a local middle school girl commiting suicide because of cyberbullying has made this hit home.

Seventy percent of teenagers from 12-17 years of age own a cell phone, and 47 percent of them own a smart phone. Ninty percent of these teenagers use social media, with Pinterest possessing 70 million users, Instagram 150 million, Twitter 560, and Facebook topping the charts with 1 billion users, according to mediabistro.com.

While these social networks help connect friends and family, it also connects enemies with victims. Cyber bullying is a huge issue facing today’s society Social media websites provide a place to spread rumors, send mean messages, and post hurtful things while perpetrator’s hide behind their computer screens.

When someone sees a comment, post, or photo that targets them it can cause anxiety at the least. From there it can lead to the victim feeling depressed, and even suicidal. When the bullying continues, the victims can feel so low that they feel they can’t avoid it and take their own lives.

Too many young teenagers commit suicide because of cyber bullying. Being bullied in person you have the option of walking away. On the Internet you can’t walk away as easily. It’s available for the whole world to see, and open for more people to come in and cause even deeper feelings of sorrow for the victim.

What makes cyber bullying and any bullying in general bad, is that the victims are usually not even at fault for anything. Anybody can be the victim of cyber bullying. People with disabilities, acne, scars, or people of different races can be singled out just because they look different. Everybody has their imperfections, but nobody deserves to be singled out because of them. People are even singled out for what they like and dislike.

Our outside appearance is just our shell. What we like and are interested in, doesn’t hurt anyone else. So what’s the wrong with loving someone of the same sex, or wanting to wear black all the time?

When you get down to it, we are all the same. We all are 96 percent oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.

However different we seem, we are all the same. We all feel the same emotions. Human beings are sensitive people, no matter how much we deny it. That comment on a girl’s Instagram photo that she’s ugly may seem harmless, but to that girl it could completely tear her down. The message to the boy that he should kill himself may seem like a joke, until he follows their advice.

We believe that cyber bullying is unfair, unjust, and unkind. We advice witnesses of cyberbullying to get an adult’s attention. Intervene and put an end to it.

If you’re reading this and have been or are currently a victim, don’t keep it to yourself. Find someone you can trust tell them what’s going on, and get help. It if becomes too much to bear, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.