“Report the page! Report the page!” We’re all preaching about getting rid of the SMHS confessions page but behind the screen, we’re probably the people writing those posts.
The SMHS confessions page is a student-run Instagram account where SMHS attendees from freshman-senior can submit anonymous posts about other students, teachers, or staff. The page started out with smaller confessions: students confessing their crushes or a bad day in Algebra, but it quickly transformed into a monster of a site: spreading rumors of pedophilia, students wanting to have sex with others 3-4 years older than them, complaining in embarassingly dramatic ways about one another, and exposing and trying to frame teachers and students.
Overall, it’s just one big Burn Book.
Admin have repeatedly tried to take the page down, but students keep building it back up and yet again, it comes with even worse confessions than before.
“There are some conversations between teachers about the confession pages. It’s mostly just feeling extremely weary is how we sort of react to it in the questions for student safety.” answers Ms. Stanush, Texas State resident teacher.
It goes beyond people being mean. “It’s one of those things where it can get very dangerous, I mean, the fact that you have to request permission: it reminds me of this app when I was in middle school. YikYak? So, it was this social media platform where everything you posted was completely anonymous, and as you can expect from anonymity, it became a wildfire. It became a huge source of cyberbullying,” Says Ms. Stanush.
It’s clear websites, platforms, and pages like these are bound to turn into some catastrophic, anonymous home to cyberbullying. When it’s not cyberbullying, it’s inappropriate comments about other students, or even teachers.
“Our school has enough drama going on and it’s just driving us apart even more. Just another excuse for people to be sneaky and not actually talk out a problem they might be having with someone else.” answers Senior Terry Barnes. The page is another way to avoid conversations that might need to be had, and contributes to our lack of development in regards to confrontation or difficult conversations, especially at our age: this is the prime time in our teen years. Students are transitioning into young adults, and having access to the page poorly sets them up for success and the ability to handle situations in other ways.
“I’ve seen it in many different forms, from people just messing around to other intentionally trying to hurt others. One time I had some friends just messing around on it and said something as a joke and it kinda ruined the rest of the night. And then there are those who just love the drama and treat it as a joke but when they ‘like’ posts like that, they turn it from one person just being a hater to what seems to be multiple people who agree with what’s being said about someone they probably don’t even know. It’s easy for them, you say whatever you want with no fear because no one knows who you are. People just like to spread hate as it is and these pages just make it a million times easier for them to do it. So much of it is just bullshit but it’s still hurting people and affects so many more lives than people think,” Terry says again.
“The confessions page is very upsetting because I see many good people getting dragged through the mud by people who can remain anonymous. However, the person who runs the confession page does seem to have some heart and responds when people ask them to take a post down,” says senior Ruby Wilsford. The hope is that this won’t be an issue at all in the future because the page will be gone.
Even though the page keeps coming back, teachers have allegedly tracked down the students who keep reposting them. In the meantime, make sure you’re reporting and unfollowing this page: following it gives it power, and as Rattlers, we should want to take that away. It’s incredibly hurtful and pointless to spend your time anonymously dissing on other students, teachers, and staff. Just be kind and aware.
