Cut the Tea: Shade room accounts are a waste of time that do nothing but spread negativity.

*smeast.tea has requested to follow you*

Another one?

This was easily the fifth “tea” account made just that week. Like all the others, I accepted the request and clicked the profile to see what it was all about. 

I understand the excitement around wanting a little extra “drama” in our lives, but these, “shade rooms” quickly turn from a harmless social media trend to something really hurtful. Sure, most of the “tea” is meant to be funny and is made up by students sending in foolish statements about their friends, but I imagine it isn’t so fun to stumble upon your name while scrolling through your feed, accompanied by a rumor about you that’s far from the truth.

Are we seriously back in middle school? This is no different than the endless “ihms_couples” accounts that filled my feed back in 7th grade — telling our friends to request us with our crushes or pairing two people together as a “joke”. We should be past this! 

I’ll admit, I was quick to follow back the first few of these “confession” pages.Along with fellow “Gossip Girl” fans, I think we can all agree we sometimes wish there was a way to know everything about everyone and anonymously send in our secrets. 

However, just because we are given this “anonymous” platform, doesn’t mean we need to use it. These accounts aren’t promoting a mindset that’s needed more than ever right now — no one needs their deepest secret exposed on Instagram.

Our high school years are supposed to be filled with positive memories and we need to work harder to build each other up. Of course rumors and gossip are bound to happen — it’s still high school after all. But creating accounts just to cause more unnecessary mind-clutter? Lame. 

So the next time you want to make a rumor-spreading Instagram page, think twice. There are so many more fulfilling things to dedicate your time towards — text a classmate to let them know you’re thinking of them. Reconnect with an old friend and go out to lunch. Compliment someone. In a world full of hatred and negativity, why be the person spreading more?