I am the kind who gets really spooked out when it comes to horror/thriller movies. I mean I refused to attend phone calls for a week after I saw When a Stranger Calls . Yes I am a scaredy cat and I am pretty proud about it.
I just saw the “Unfriended” trailer. Seriously I am bummed out now. I am definitely NOT watching that movie. I will probably never make another Skype call if I did. But then Skype is not the problem in that movie. Is it?
The underlying problem that movie brings out is something that happens so casually and so commonly that no one notices it. Cyber Bully!
And with today’s technology cyber bullying has become sort of a trending thing. People who post really harsh comments about another person are praised while the victim is just traumatized by the disturbing words that follow them everywhere they go. The thing with cyber tormenting is that it reaches you at any point of time and is always there. Anything you posted on the Internet stays there forever. People will always bring it up no matter what and that is when the victim is even more victimized. As a victim myself I can now proudly say that I stood up to the people who intimidated me. Yes! I took some time (by some time I mean almost a year) to get over it and stand up on my feet. But when I did, I was welcomed by the most unexpected of people. It was the hardest thing to do but I gave up on the grudge I had on people. It took me even longer to start trusting people again. Because you see, the ones who start this whole cyber bullying are not your enemies but your very own friends.
Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer
But here the saying changes completely. You got to keep your friends the closest. Or even as far away as possible. Because you never know when they will turn around and stab you. I am not saying that all friends are going to betray you. But it has become a big trend these days.
And as soon as one person starts a harsh thread about someone people just join them so that they don’t stand out from the crowd. They don’t want any of the mean comments to be directed by them. Just to impress the bullies some even go a step further and continue harassing people where ever they see them. Until the victim does something extreme none of them realize the amount of pain they are inflicting upon the poor soul. And there will still be the gifted few who will always think that they did not do anything wrong.
“I can’t help it if she can’t handle a few comments. She shouldn’t have slept around in the first place.” – a bully told this to one of my friends about me. Funny thing is they did not shut up until my friend told them I had screenshots of every single comment they had posted about me and I was ready to file a complaint.
It took a threat to silence my bullies on social media. But they still went about their harassment at all times and didn’t stop until they got a new set of victims. That or they became so focused on this that they forgot their actual purpose and suddenly got the enlightenment that they have to get back to their jobs.
It’s been 5 years and the scars are still there reminding me of the fight I put up. Today as I look back I feel like it was such a big thing to get back up after all that happened.But I am who I am because of it. And I feel thankful for all those people who spent more time thinking about how to make my life a living hell.