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Students are using After School to vent anonymously

A new app called After School is growing in popularity with high school students.

A student using After School on her iPhone. Photo by Steph Parsons.

By STEPH PARSONS
fhspress.com Contributor
Posted January 5, 2016

Everyone has hardships in school. We have nowhere to go to express how we feel anymore because we always get made fun of for it.

So the creators of the app called After School decided that they would make a place where people from your school can go and express their feelings without having people know who you are. The app is completely anonymous. People can post absolutely anything and no one will ever know it's you.

This app is currently only available for iPhones, so it does limit those that don't have iPhones from using it.

You can post what you like; where you are wanting to go, what you are thinking, etc. While almost no parents know about this app, that's where this app comes in handy. We don't have our parents watching over us like other forms of social media.

There are over 22,300 high school campuses that have at least one student using the app.
This app is envisioned to be a safe and comfortable place for you to express your feelings, but because it is accessible to any teenager; there are some cases of cyber bullying. That is inevitable. People go on there to feel safe until they see a post about them. What can they do?

It's anonymous. Every comment that is, in any way, hurtful will be blocked so that cyber bullying is prevented. There are admins monitoring the posts at all times to make sure nothing unacceptable is posted.

Only teenagers are able to use this app. The way the app creators figure out if these users are teenagers or not is by forcing the user to put in their Facebook passwords. There are different items that only teenagers older than 17 are allowed to access, like content that is sexual or has something to do with drugs. The way they find that out is by forcing you to use your drivers license.

This app is a great way to express your feelings as well as get help from paid professionals, or crisis counselors, if you agree to it. After School has been set up with a warning system. If someone posts anything about emotional stress or depression, it will send a message to crisis counselors.

There are many different apps that are close to After School, like Whisper. Whisper lets anyone post anything they want.

After School can be a great app to express your feelings and for getting anonymous help when needed, but it does have some downfalls. With every app out there, you always have to be careful with what happens or what you see on there.

steph.parsons@fhspress.com

FOOTHILL HIGH SCHOOL fhspress.com SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA