It takes 140 characters or less to wound someone’s image, and students have abused the powers of staying anonymous on Twitter against peers. Students have created countless twitter accounts that tweet insulting things about Parkway West’s student body. While most of the students can agree that the majority of the tweets are offensive, they still follow, favorite and retweet the posts.

“Everyone follows these twitter accounts to keep up with drama. If they’re not tweeting about you, you don’t care if it’s offensive or not,” junior Alison Owen said.

That is exactly the problem: Students don’t realize the bigger picture behind the tweets. People who have been directly targeted by these  posts take offense to what’s being said about them.

“I was tweeted about and it really made me angry. The tweet was inappropriate and it was really embarrassing when people started to talk about it,” junior Lulu Alorsan said.

The tweets do not only affect students, but the school’s image overall as well.

“Honestly it’s a flat out disgrace to our school. It makes us look immature,” junior Charlie Huff said.

Some students feel like the tweets qualify as bullying because of the embarrassment the posts are causing.

“It’s basically cyber-bullying because whoever is behind the stupid accounts is embarrassing people,” sophomore Diamond Segura said.

The biggest issue with these accounts would be their ability to stay hidden. In many ways, Twitter has made anonymously drawing humiliating attention to someone easier than other social media sites have. Even though rumors on Twitter can sometimes be seen as miles away from reality, the damages to self images are still there. Since it’s happening on the internet, there are blurred lines between amusement and attack.

“Even if some people think it’s funny it’s still mean, so there should be consequences to the kids who run the accounts,” junior Hannah Miller said.

Though rumors may seem less drastic when they’re hidden behind a screen, the damaging effects to a student’s self esteem are still there. Twitter has made it easy enough to inadvertently become either the bully or the bullied.

But when will these Parkway West Twitter accounts come to a complete end? It is likely that they will not anytime soon. Social networking sites are a huge part of modern society and it is nearly impossible to silence all the students that spend their time online. Until students decide to cease the online nonsense on their own, the Parkway West accounts are likely here to stay.