Students at Dominion have found a new way to pass the time.  Their boredom has sadly resulted in rampant and merciless cyber bullying.

An anonymous Twitter account called “Dominion Crushes” was created last school year and has unfortunately resurfaced this year.

This account, followed by almost 600 people, or half of Dominion’s student body, facilitates cyber bullying and promises anonymity to its accomplices.

The account holder tweets out requests to his/her followers, asking for direct messages of “crushes” on Dominion students, to be posted.  However, the tweets sent in are rarely “crushes”.

To clarify for non-Twitter-users, direct messages are not seen by all of one’s followers but only by the account holder to whom the message is sent.

Therefore, students cower behind the secrecy of direct messages and send in whatever they please about their peers, no matter how humiliating.  The 600 “Dominion Crushes” followers are able to see whatever people send to the account.

Originally, when the account first surfaced last year, people actually sent in “crushes” about students.  These were harmless, mostly positive, though sometimes inappropriate, statements.

Then, as the account grew in popularity, students became increasingly bold and vicious.

People used the account solely to embarrass and hurt others.  Students targeted the actions, personalities, sexualities and appearances of other students.  No one was safe.

Most remarks were completely untrue and ridiculous.  However, high schoolers will believe most anything they read on social media.  Students may be shocked to find that these false statements are actually considered slander, a punishable and serious crime.

To make matters worse, other students retweeted and “favorited” the tweets they found funny.  In this way, the account’s viewing span is almost infinite.  It doesn’t matter if one followed the account or not, one could not avoid these tweets.

Some would immediately point fingers at the account holder for this atrocity.  They would be right in doing so, to an extent, for he or she facilitates this cyber bullying. However, the students who send in these cruel tweets are equally at fault.

My question is: why is this happening?  Why do students feel the need to publicly humiliate other students?

I believe the culprit is mainly boredom, which is the saddest part.  Self-esteem issues and the desire for attention play major roles, as well.

Also, teenagers cyber bully to receive a reaction.  They prey on these victims in the hope to break them.  It often works.

I personally know numerous students affected or hurt by these Tweet.  I also know that faculty members have read these Tweets, yet the account still exists.

The initial creation of this account was ridiculous but the fact that students feed the account with slanderous, embarrassing statements about their “friends” is truly sad.

I hope that my peers can soon find other ways to fill their days.  Ways that do not ridicule their peers for their own sick, personal amusement.