According to the Hartford County Examiner around half of teens have been the victims of cyberbullying but only 1 in 10 teens tells a parent if they have been a cyber bully victim. Sarahah, an app that allows you to write your opinion on people, anonymously of course. Is this app nothing more than a platform for cyberbullying?  

“I think Cyberbullying is worse than normal bullying,” Anirudar Gupta (8) said. “Because you don’t always know who it’s from.”

Gupta says that he has never been cyberbullied because he doesn’t have any social media.

Growing up in a digital era, cyberbullying is all around us. Before you set up your Sarahah account be sure that you are ready for the comments you might get. Getting a hate comment on platforms like Instagram or Twitter can be hard but it can be worse if you don’t know who the comment is from.

“I think Cyberbullying is more harmful than bullying because you don’t know who it is,” Aleta Lemmond (7) said. “A grown adult cyberbullying a thirteen-year-old child, It just isn’t right”

We want to know what our peers think of us but what if it isn’t a nice thing?

“If you don’t have anything nice to say do not say anything at all”  right? Some of my peers want to hear the negative comments. More of a self-improvement thing. A lot like what this app was intended for.Sarahah was made for companies to give to their employees like a suggestion box. Youtuber Els Marshall made an entire youtube video where he read mean comments from Sarahah. You have to keep in mind that when you are putting something out there, you are putting it out there for responses.

With the risk of getting hate, why do people do it? There is another side to Sarahah, The positive side. It can feel great to receive positive comments. This app can be looked at as a confidence builder.

Some do Sarahah because of hate comments. Whenever you put something on your story on Snapchat it tells you who has viewed your story. So if you put the link to your Sarahah on your story and you get a hate comment and if one person has viewed your story You know who it is. However, You can easily lose track after twenty or so views.

Arisha Solhail, an eighth-grader who has used Sarahah multiple times (via Snapchat).

“I will probably not use Sarahah again,”  Arisha Solhail (8) said. “because all of the Negativity can really get to you.”

The Internet can be a scary place. Should you let your child use Sarahah? Many parents have decided that Sarahah is not a good fit for their child. Whatever you end up deciding you should talk to your child about internet safety. If your child puts their link to their Sarahah on Snapchat make sure that their friends on Snapchat are only people they know. You would not want someone you don’t know commenting on your child’s Sarahah.

After your setup your account on Sarahah you will receive a link that you can give to your friends usually via Snapchat. The people you share this link with can write anything they want on your Sarahah. This has brought a lot of negativity and cyberbullying into play. Luckily Sarahah has changed it so the app filters keywords to limit some of the negativity.Many people use Snapchat to send their friends the link to their Sarahah and to post the comments they got.

Sarahah was first launched in November 2016 in Saudi Arabia and February 2017 in the United States. It really took off in the Summer of 2017.  Why Sarahah? Seems like a random name but Sarahah loosely translated to Honesty in Arabic. The app was made for companies to use as a way to communicate with their employees about ways to better the Company. This is why it says “leave a constructive message :)” when you are leaving a comment. Many people have argued that this app is a new platform for Cyber Bullying.Sarahah became the most popular in the Summer of 2017. In August  2017 Sarahah fell from the first spot on the App store to the 5th.

With apps like Sarahah, you should use with caution. Ask yourself, Would you care if someone left a hateful comment? Next time a new app comes out think twice before using it. Such as any trend, Sarahah’s spot in the limelight is coming to an end.

{Picture is staged, Zack is not actually sad}