Less is more when it comes to social media Almost everyone I know hated middle school. Middle school isn’t fun . For me, it was super awkward and uncomfortable. High school wasn’t too bad, minus the time a girl tried to throw an apple at my head while I was in the lunch line, but other than that, middle school was worse. In middle school, your body is changing and you don’t know what is going on, your friends turn on you for no reason, and you have to fit into some type of group, because in middle school, being an outcast makes you an easy target. As much as middle school sucked back then for me, and how high school isn’t fun for a lot of other people, it probably sucks a little more now, thanks to social media sites, like facebook, Twitter and Myspace, and the rise of text messages and picture texts. I mean, I love facebook and my blackberry, but I couldn’t imagine going through middle school with these things. In my mind, because of facebook and Myspace, nasty rumors can spread even faster than they did before. I read an article one time about a girl that committed suicide because of stuff that was said about her on Myspace. I have heard other stories of people being harassed online or students who have had groups dedicated to hating them. People say mean things about other people in high school and middle school, but it scares me that people can say even meaner things online. Using social media as much as we do is all so new and is evolving so fast that most youth, schools and parents don’t know how to keep up with it or even deal with it. However there are actions you can take to protect yourself and websites that offer peer support for social media use . In my opinion, people should keep the information that they post about themselves online to a minimum. Take off the year you were born on your Facebook page, don’t post a status that lets other people know where you are and when you are not at home, don’t post a drunk status or email while under the influence, and never EVER send a nude pic. I don’t put up that much information about myself on facebook because I don’t like the fact that companies can collect your personal information off of social media sites. If you are constantly posting where you are on your facebook or Myspace status, you are making yourself an easy target for a robber . And posting a status or emailing an old friend while tipsy always seems like a great, funny idea at the time, but it always turns out to be a really bad idea the next day. And lastly, nude pics, whether they are on the internet or in a text, are NEVER a good idea. They are never a good idea for two reasons, one because you can never trust that the person you are sending them to isn’t going to show them to someone else, it doesn’t matter who they are or how much you trust them at the time. And two, in my mind, once a nude pic is on the internet; it is out floating in internet space forever and ever. I would rather go to middle school again for the rest of my life than have myself exposed online. I think that the less information you put out on the internet about yourself the better off you will be. For more info, check out these resources: Online safety tips for teens Tips to stop Cyberbullying How to be safe on the internet