The idea that words don’t hurt is merely a delusion. With all the technology we have today, words are carelessly thrown about, losing their meaning while re-establishing their power. A single text message (“ur ugly lol jk”), one tweet about the sexual popularity of a girl (“omg she’s such a slut”) or a string of demeaning comments on Facebook about someone can all result in moderately to severe consequences. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, “cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.” Based on that definition, there have been tons of students that have been victims of cyberbullying. Wall posts and statuses, tweets, texts — I’ve seen them all, and I’m sure you have, too. The advancement of technology has made it too easy to know what’s happening in the lives of our peers.

“There have been several [cyberbullying] cases brought to my attention [this year],” said Mary Lynn Bush. “In many cases, unfortunately, the victims just keep it to themselves and try not to make it a bigger bullying situation. I don’t know why victims feel like they don’t have any power, [even though] they do.”

Typically, there’s nothing the school can legally do to help the students that are victims of cyberbullying.

“The hard part for [the administration] is that the law right now does not really support us in following through on any discipline if it happens outside of school. The only thing we have is if it negatively impacts the environment here,” Bush said. “But if we find out about it, we definitely talk to the kids who are doing it and encourage them to stop because harassment charges could be filed outside of school.”

The Roosevelt Way has definitely revealed its traits in some of the students, though. According to Bush, “Roosevelt’s one of those places where, usually someone steps up.”

“I am so encouraged by [the] students that bring things to me that have nothing to do with themselves. That’s usually how I find out. The victim never comes to me. The majority of the students here are mature. Unfortunately, there are some of those who are still growing up. I always hope the mature students will help those other ones to grow up.”

But what happens if no one stands up to the bully behind the screen? Senior Mollie Hill willingly divulged how she was bullied through texting and Facebook.

“I’ve been in a relationship for a long time and none of his friends like me. They get on Facebook and bully me, call[ing] me a whore and tell[ing] me that I cheat on him all the time when I actually don’t. [My boyfriend’s] been telling them to stop this whole time, but they never listen to him. It’s mainly one girl. His guy friends randomly stopped for some reason. One time I got tagged in a post calling me gross and stuff, so I had to delete and block her,” Hill said.

Words have power. If that power is put in the wrong hands, then it can destroy. Thankfully, there haven’t been any cases where the consequences have resulted in harmful or even fatal decisions. But constant texts, tweets or Wall posts that are demeaning can eventually get to us.

“If someone is constantly [cyberbullied], it gets to the point when they believe what they’re being told. It messes with your mind. It really screws up how you think about yourself,” Hill said.