Raise the 5 Percent
Posted: 4/1/2019
Technology has led to new ways for people to bully each other, it’s called cyberbullying. Kids of all ages are constantly on social media websites boasting their opinion about whatever, and whoever they want to. There has always been that one person on the internet that feels they need to make others feel bad. I would know — as I was one of those targeted. I was constantly harassed and at times threatened over social media.
My story goes like this, all throughout middle school and through a good part of high school, I had a Facebook profile. I would always post what I was thinking and how things were going. Then one day I found out that you could post your relationship status on your basic info page. Since the girl I was dating at the time was on Facebook I thought it would be a good idea to post that I was in a relationship with her. To this day I consider it to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
After that post, I was bombarded daily by insults from people boasting their opinion about my relationship status. At times I received threats from people who didn't even live where I was from. The feelings that resulted from the bullying were unlike any I could ever imagine. I have always been one of the bigger students on campus. This being the case, nobody ever tried to bully me in person. But when people started to “Bully” me online, I realized just how little I was in this world. From that day on I made a vow, which was to never use any form of social media again. I thought that deleting all of my social media accounts would help end my problems and in a way it did. Then I saw how I wasn't the only one who had been affected by cyberbullying. I realized that there have been so many cases in which people were bullied to the point where they begin to harm themselves and at times even commit suicide. I knew that I had to do something.
My name is Kellen and I am want to be a part of the bullying prevention movement. I did some research and found that only 5% of students who witness cyberbullying ever report it. I feel that it is my duty to spread awareness about the subject, so I created "Raise the 5%." It’s goal is spreading awareness on cyberbullying. I have created a twitter account, which you follow at @RaiseThe5. Together we can stop cyberbullying.
