This Shouldn’t be Normal by Alyssa Benitez
Tapping my pencil against my notebook, while looking out the window. My teacher was going on about the new Math unit we just started. All this talk about finals, but I was focused on the one thing that was about to let us out of this classroom. The clock. 2 minutes. 1 minute. 5 seconds. And, the familiar sound of the bell fills my ears. Talking filled the halls and it was not long until I saw my friends walking towards me. 
“Hey, did you see what Melissa posted on instagram? She has over 600 likes, I wish I had that many.” My friend Violet explained.
“Yeah I’ll look right now, I’m on instagram like all the time. How could I have missed it?” I reply with a surprised look on my face. 
I pull out my phone while managing to walk through the crowded halls. My fingers scroll through the many strangers I follow on this app until I see a familiar face. Melissa now has over 700 likes on her new post. Instinct takes over and my finger hits the like button. Now, I had to comment something nice about her so she can like and reply to it. It’s a never ending cycle. But, when I click on the comment section, my stomach drops.
“Um, Violet, did you check her comment section? What is this?” I move the phone in front of Violet so she can see.
“No, who is that and why are they saying those things about her?” Violet says with furrowed eyebrows and a mean stare.
“I don’t know, but that’s so mean, don’t they realise that people online have actual feelings. This stuff affects people, I’ve never understood why people do this.”
The day goes on, but I still can’t get my mind off of those hateful comments. And, of course the profile of the person was anonymous. Cowards hiding behind a screen to bring down other people. At lunch I find Melissa and she seems fine. Laughing over some joke her friend said and enjoying her food.
“Yeah, I saw those comments and just deleted them. I’m honestly used to them now. It helps if I just don’t check the comments at all.” Melissa explains after I ask how she is handling the situation.
“Yeah, but that’s not okay, and it shouldn’t be normal for you.”
“I know but, in today’s society it's normal now and I just have to deal with it if I want to keep using social media.” She goes back to talking with her friends and I finish the rest of the school day with a disturbed mindset.
Why does social media have to be this way? I just don’t understand how someone can be so cruel. It has gotten to the point where there is now an option that you can disable your comment section or disable the like button. Social media is fun, but can easily get dangerous very fast. This should not be normal, the normal should be bringing people from around the world together. But, apps like instagram and certain people that use it to their advantage have taken away this unity in society and ruined this beautiful vision for the rest of us.