Sara was fuming at Nikki, so angry that she didn’t even care about sharing Nikki’s secrets on Facebook. Thinking about the consequences after she pressed the “send” key was the last thing on her mind!

The next day in school, everyone seemed to know; it was unreal how fast the rumors were flying and the stories were spreading. It didn’t take long for Nikki to hear the stories and find out how they had gotten started.

Nikki felt hurt, betrayed and humiliated!

Everyone seemed to be talking about her and adding untrue details to her life story. It felt like everywhere she went, people were making fun of her.

Sara felt guilty and embarrassed about what she’d done and wished she could take it back. She couldn’t believe how fast the stories were spreading. Even students in neighboring towns were talking about Nikki.

She wanted to undo the damage, but it was too late; hundreds had already read the online posts.

Technology makes it so easy to express strong emotional impulses. Back in the day, before technology became a social life line, Sara might have taken the time to reflect on her feelings and calm down before doing something rash.

Information posted online is routed to hundreds or thousands in a matter of minutes or even seconds. What you post online one time may not seem that bad, but when it is sent on repeatedly, the damages can be even more than you’d imagine.

Once the message is sent, the sender loses all control. People can copy and paste the information, and add their own information to it. You never know what it will end up saying or who will end up seeing it.

Even good friends can inadvertently hurt each other!