Dear Future President,

Social media is not as safe as one might think. Every day people hiding behind screens with fake accounts bully and harass other people on the Internet. Sometimes people can blow it off, and not care what the bully has to say, but for others it can really get to them even to the point where they want to commit suicide. Every day there is an average of 5,240 suicide attempts by young people grades 7-12.

Statistics show that young girls get bullied more than young boys about their shape, sexuality, race, or the way the look. There is no federal laws against bullying so bullies believe that they can get away with anything when they are not getting in trouble for it. Even if the site shuts down their account, they can just make a new one. Once more, most people when they see cyberbullying happen, they just ignore it. Bullies can really hurt people even if they are just typing.

The highest suicide rate in the U.S. is in the spring. In that time, on average every 16.2 minutes someone commits suicide. Girls aged 10-14 year old  are at an even higher risk of committing suicide. According to statistics, 30% of students admit to either being bullied or bullying over social media. Each day, about 160,000 kids stay home from school in fear of being bullied, cyber bullied, emotionally bullied, or physically bullied. Some people get bullied by sending nudes or sexting, then the people they send those messages to post them all over the internet. I think this really shows how someone you trust more than anyone can turn into your bully in an instant.

“Bullying isn’t a federal law” says the government. Well, it should be, suicide is in the top five leading causes of death in teens in the U.S. I think the next president should pass an anti-bullying law because it’s not right for people to bullied for what they look like because that is who they are.

Sincerely,

Alice W.   (Sacramento, CA)