Sarahah, a word recognised by teens over the country, but just a bundle of letters to everyone else. It is a social networking service providing anonymous feedback. The literal translation of Sarahah from Arabic is ‘honesty’. Usually, it is used closely with Snapchat and Instagram, working closely with their URL features. It became insanely popular over the summer and is still lingering two months later.

Mostly, it is used to share opinions about others, ranging anywhere from kind to cruel. Some of the comments can knock down people’s confidence, whilst others can make people's days.

So is it good? Sarahah has enabled people to realise the best in them, thanks to the comments pointing out their best features. Also, it allows the fearful to express their opinions, so people can truly understand what others think of them. It can allow for constructive criticism, for those willing to receive it. Most of the time, it boosts confidence as each comment is posted.

However, where there is good, there is bad. A few teenagers who once thought they were adored by their peers are now being slapped in the face by reality. The flaws that everyone has are being expressed with a single comment, the tiniest things are being pushed into the spotlight. Strangers who have never even talked before are commenting on first impressions, good or bad. Teenagers are suddenly cautious, wary of the way they present themselves.

But is it for the best? Some could argue that some of the comments need to be expressed, and are just alerting the recipient that they have flaws that need to be fixed. Whilst some comments can be cruel, they are certainly humbling.

Of course, Sarahah isn’t only used to express opinions about a person anonymously. Many people use it when they are bored, to do Q&A’s with the questions being anonymous and replies being posted on Snapchat.This creates minor problems in itself, as the answers are no longer anonymous, but most people are more cautious of what they say.

But in the end, anyone could argue that people upset about receiving hate comments brought it on themselves, as they created a Sarahah account themselves for everything to happen. Also, these negative sides to Sarahah don’t happen to everyone, just the unlucky few.

By Amritha Kamalanathan, Dartford Grammar School for Girls