Social media is a huge aspect to teenagers’ lives nowadays.  From Instagram to Snapchat and Twitter to Facebook, there are endless ways for teens to get plugged into the social media scene. But is it being used the way it was meant to be?

Social media was created for connecting with friends, finding out news in the area around you, and maybe even hearing gossip from your high school. We use it to post selfies, update our lives, and tweet our feelings, but a lot of people use it to exploit their peers and make fun of another person for favorites and retweets. Bullying has always been around, but has social media affected the amount of it?

Brianna Lefoy, a senior, said, “Physical bullying has probably increased because of what people have said about each other online.”

Sitting behind a computer screen thinking what you say isn’t going to affect people is not the right mindset to have. Not only could it affect someone’s self esteem, it could also cause conflict on the other side of the screen. But because a person is behind a screen and not saying what they think to another person’s face, it also can cause that person to get away with whatever they said.

Cassidy Wilson, also a senior, thinks that bullying has become more of a problem. “It definitely has because people can say what they want with little to no repercussions.”

In the past, teens might get bullied around their neighborhoods and school. Now, young people can get bullied everywhere and at all times.