Sunday, February 10, 2013

'Ask.fm'...

About 94% of the drama/issues/problems I've been faced with in the past two months have all been caused by this lovely website. If you aren't aware of what it is, then let me first tell you this... you're pretty lucky. Ask.fm, (which you can find here ) is a social networking site, where users can ask each other/be asked questions anonymously. Sounds like fun, right? Well it is... until you drop a load of insecure, cruel, bored teenagers into the mix. Then you have a problem. As we all already know, social networking makes many young people start to say things they probably wouldn't say to others' faces. So add anonymity into the whole thing? 'Great! Now I have the opportunity to tell that girl that I've never really liked what I think of her! I can tell that boy to stop acting so cocky... no one likes him! I can tell my best friend that what shes been doing with her eyebrows lately really doesn't do anything for her... without even offending her!' And so you get double the cyber bullying, with an extra lump of paranoia thrown in. Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea. If it was used correctly, I'm sure it would be 100% innocent fun... finding out who your crushes favourite girls are, complimenting people and even playing harmless jokes on each other. But so many teenagers are getting 'cocky' with what they say to one another, and it is having serious consequences.

Jessica Laney.Ciara Pugsley.Erin and Shannon Gallagher. Four of the high profile suicides last year, which are said to have been solely down to ask fm. There are more then just four, but these are four of the 'biggest', the four that have gained the most publicity. These girls, who were all around the same age as me, felt as if there was no where to turn. They felt like there was No-one who cared about them, no other option then to take they're own lives. At the age of 13?Is it not crazy, that someone so young should even be in the position to contemplate suicide? We are still children. Although it may not feel like it, no problem is to big for us to ask help for. There is always someone to help... they have the obligation to help us, for the next 5 years!

So how many more innocent lives is it going to take before something is done? How many more teenagers are going to fall into this dark, dark place until something changes? I have seen so many horrible, horrible things on ask fm. I would love to link each one of them individually, but most of them are people I know and so I cant. But one of them, a boy I stumbled across a whilst ago, has stuck in my mind. His names Freddie. http://ask.fm/freddieottleylewis I do not know him; all I know is that he lives in the same country as me, and has really had a hard time. If you keep scrolling down his questions, I'm sure you will find what I mean.

I will admit, I have said a few things on ask fm which I'm truly ashamed of. To people I know and don't like, without realising the affect it could have on them. But then, I started receiving hate. I know exactly who it was from, my darling 'frenemie' (post on her soon to come!) as she is very obvious with some of the things she says. And that made me really think, about how everything that is said has a consequence.

This needs to stop. Not ask fm, but the way we are all acting on it.Everyone needs to step back, and just THINK... 'would I be able to put my name to that? Be able to untick the anonymous box, and let them see who said it?' before proceeding. How many more people need to die before something changes?

Thank you for reading xox

1 comment:

  1. It really is horrible. I'm lucky enough to not have any hate, but Ive seen some friends get it and its horrible. Good post though!

    ReplyDelete