Middle Eastern born website, and now application, Ask.Fm has worsened cyber bullying, and in some cases, become deadly.
The access to bullying on Ask.Fm seems to have no end even after suicides and missing persons reports have been filed, yet the company seems to be doing nothing about it. If the movement to remove the accessibility of hateful messages from an unknown person doesn’t occur, teens are more susceptible to losing themselves or a peer. How can changes be made to a website known for giving users the opportunity to ask questions to their peers anonymously? Ultimately, Ask.Fm should delete the anonymous action completely. Face to face bullying has continued to decline due to advancements and access to social media outlets, and letting people become anonymous is a step in the wrong direction. Applications and websites like these make it almost impossible for teens to escape their peers, intensifying the effects of the bullies, because victims are never left alone.
Telling someone to kill themselves can be classified as a federal charge for sending death threats, and due to the undisclosed abilities on Ask.Fm, there are criminals walking around among us. UK teenager Hannah Smith was one to receive the countless bullying submissions on her ask including a handful of commands to kill herself. After months of anonymous abuse on the social platform, the 14-year-old hung herself in her room without a word of the bullying or a simple explanation why. Smith isn’t the only suicide resulting from the site, others include 15-year-old Josh Unsworth and 17-year-old Daniel Perry, according to dailymail.co.uk.
Sophomore at Fossil Ridge High School, Megan Deitchler, speaks about Ask.Fm saying, “It’s not worth it.” Deitchler has had firsthand experience to the bullying on the website. “I’ve had my Ask.fm for about three weeks and have already been asked about six sexual questions about my boyfriend and I’s relationship,” Deitchler said. Stuff like this is completely personal, “When you give someone means to be anonymous it changes them…it turns the nicest people into monsters,” Deitchler said.
Sophomore Emma Keever, has received the messages of “hate” on the platform. “I’ve been called fake and and have been told I’ve changed a lot. When in reality, everyone changes when they get into high school,” said Keever. “You make new friends and mature, and you start to focus on what’s ahead of you.”
Is there a solution to the problems created by Ask.Fm? One resolution is to remove the access to anonymous questions entirely. Even though the negative messages are completely artificial from an anonymous source, people still sadly believe them. “Society is intrigued with what people think.” 15-year-old sophomore Chloe Cochran said. If there was no availability of putting on the cloak of anonymity, the bullies that dominate this social platform would have to seek another outlet for their vicious, and sometimes deadly words. Although people can be anonymously nice, it doesn’t make up for the fact that this form of cyber bullying has become this detrimental.
