Welcome to Facebook — a social network to help you connect and share with the people in your life.

While this is an insanely popular way of communication among students, it has also created a major problem in our society known as cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying is the same as standard bullying, the only difference is that bullies have a computer screen to hide behind.

“You don’t have to look at the person when saying these horrible things,” school resource officer E. McNabb said. “It desensitizes the situation.”

Now, instead of logging in to see friendly wall posts or creep on people’s Homecoming pictures, there is potential to see a new I hate “fill-in-the-blank” group or an outright rude wall post.

“People that are not being bullied don’t understand just how quickly that can make the target of bullying feel alone and emotionally destroyed,” McNabb said.

Online bullying seems to have two different focuses for males and females.

“With female students, the majority of cyber bullying appears to be about her level of promiscuity,” McNabb said. “With male students, bullying focuses more on sexual orientation.”

Each and every one of these bullying incidents has a direct effect on the victim. While some try their best to brush it off, others find themselves in counseling and some make the decision to end their lives.

Megan Meier from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, committed suicide after a cyber bullying incident. Groups titled “Megan is a slut” or “Megan is fat” began to appear. Then, horrible messages were sent reading: “Everybody knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. The world would be a better place without you.”  This lead her to the decision to end her life. The saddest parts are, she was only 13, and an adult was the one sending those messages.

Tyler Clementi killed himself after his roommate streamed a video on the Internet revealing that he was gay. He was just 18 years old and beginning his freshman year of college at Rutgers University.

There is not an adjective strong enough to describe how sad it is that these lives ended. It’s hard to believe people would even post this to the Internet to begin with.

Unfortunately, these are just a couple examples of teenagers who committed suicide after being bullied via Internet. There are more who have and more who are going to. This problem is going to worsen unless something is done to stop it.

That’s where you come in.

Instead of scrolling down and ignoring the new “I hate ‘so and so’” group, say something. Preferably, say something in-person. Things on the Internet can get distorted and you don’t need to become a bully yourself by trying to correct someone.

Also, don’t cyber bully anyone to begin with. Yes, friends do occasionally “joke” and say stuff they are not serious about, but make sure your friend realizes that. You have to be careful with what you say over the internet because people can take things pretty seriously.

“In high school, things important now won’t seem as important in 10 years,” McNabb said. “It’s hard to see that way now.”

If you or someone you know have ever been a victim, know that the school resource officer or a counselor is here to talk to. There are people willing to listen. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to an adult at the school, find another trusted adult or a friend.

Students at Southwest, if there’s one thing to take from this article it is this: don’t “connect” over “sharing” hurtful and untrue information about individuals. It’s just not going to end too pretty.