When I think about cyber bullying I see a problem just as important to solve as “regular” bullying which many people know as physical bullying, but as my life slowly moves forward I cannot help but wonder: am I alone? Being in high school I see both bullying and cyber bullying on a daily basis, but it seems that high school culture has become something where bullying is frowned upon but cyber bullying is completely okay. I myself have been bullied and cyber bullied and know how painful both forms of harassment are. Unlike most authorities in our school, I for one seem to feel the same amount of pain when I am beat up for my lunch money and when I am texted phrases like “you have no friends” or “kill yourself.” I know I am not alone, I see many of my friends (contrary to popular belief I actually have friends) often get physically bullied in school, to which many teachers often react by reprimanding the bully, but after the final bell rings I see these same friends getting bullied again via instagram, snapchat, facebook, or texts, to which nobody reacts. It has come to the point where me and my friends can go to school without being shoved or beat up, but then the second we get home all of the hurtful instagram or facebook comments pile up. I can say from experience that cyber bullying is a silent killer in this way and that makes it that much more important to stop. Like carbon monoxide, cyber bullying is very hard to detect, it can happen through a multitude of sources and websites and that makes the job of stopping it much harder, which is why I think many school counselors, teachers, and resource officers have ignored or not been able to detect cyber bullying. But this extra hurdle that the cyberspace poses is not something to back away from, people have to band together and get over this hurdle because cyber bullying is just as hurtful and important to stop as “regular” bullying. Unfortunately I do not believe that many schools including mine have realized this yet and that is why many victims of cyber bullying including my closest friends and I often feel alone and helpless. But I do see hope in the future. As awareness grows so will action to hopefully one day end cyber bullying and give victims a helping hand. That is the reason I am taking the time to write this essay today, to hopefully spread awareness by sharing my story because maybe one day people will be aware enough about this threat that they will take a stand to stop it and pick up those who have been beat and crushed by cyber bullying.