Social Media has changed the way we interact but it has both positives and negetives, writes Persa Sanjana Hussain

Cyber bullying itself sounds like an intimidating strong word that many people are not wholly familiar with, despite having faced it first-hand. As the years roll by, effortlessly making its way into the vast area of exponential technological advancement, it brings along with it a plethora of shortcomings- some of which we are fully aware of and some which we are completely oblivious to. Unfortunately, according to most people, cyber bullying easily falls into the latter group. The rise of social media has opened up windows to introduce beautiful, effective and sometimes the most creative ideas. It has given a huge number of people a solid platform for self-expression neatly.

shaped into pictures, videos, texts or even status updates. This is a platform that has changed the world in more ways than it was ever expected to. However, it is sadly inclusive of negatives and more often than not, negatives that cannot, especially in the 21st century, go unnoticed. A beautiful picture of a girl can not only be complimented by a hundred of her friends but can also be downloaded and used as a picture for a fake account spreading repulsive rumors. A picture of a cricketer with his daughter may not only be adored by fans but also be criticized by someone who will ridiculously turn the endearing relationship into something inappropriate. A status update by an optimistic boy in the fifth grade can be spammed with hurtful comments, carefully written down to destroy his self-esteem for months, if not for the rest of his life.

Lastly, anything and everything can be turned into something ugly by monsters waiting for their chance to feed on other people’s insecurities just to boost their own confidence. Worst of all, this monster can very much be a naïve teenager who is yet to discover a lot about this world and how it works but is rather focused on looking cool to his friends, for fleeting moments at least. Children pick up what they see and the things we willfully ignore on the internet are not necessarily ignored by them. The things we do not stand up against are not perceived as being hurtful by them. The hate which is not fought with enough love grows on them. Soon enough it becomes too late. It suddenly strikes a chord when they are seen to be radiating the hate they were never taught to fight or even recognize to begin with. It’s alarming how we all witness it on a daily basis but willfully ignore it to avoid drama or disregard how dramatically hateful it can be as a whole.

It’s easy to look past jabs impulsively and openly thrown at people on social media. It’s easy to pretend that staying neutral ensures the best outcome in such cases and even easier to tell ourselves that these remarks would have been a bigger problem if it were pronounced out loud to the victim, physically. But one fine day when you wake up to be on the receiving end, suddenly it does not seem so easy at all. Cyber bullying comes in lots of shapes and sizes and is often draped in thick coats of ignorance and disregard. Nonetheless, it is dressed like a common man to avoid raising suspicion but it barely fails to do the job assigned. It encompasses victims of all ages and no exceptions. Men and women are both dragged into this vicious practice. Surprisingly, or rather not, most of the times the victims tend to be women being policed by random strangers on the internet telling them what to look up to, what to look like, what to wear and even what to do.

These strangers are far from nice and would use any sort of annoyingly irrational label to reassure themselves that they embarrass the girl to the point of giving in to their allegations. Worst of all, the victim isn’t even made to look like the victim but rather painted to be a perpetrator being saved by people who abuse her. Even people who realize she is the victim end up not saying a word and scrolling past it, far enough to forget it and far enough for it to never touch a nerve, never come back in the bubble they abide in. In countries where women are still eve-teased fearlessly on the roads and tormented every now and then with social constructs strongly built brick by brick to push women down, it is really hard to imagine online platforms where women don’t have to face such heart-wrenching blows. However, it is also not hard to imagine these blows being dodged immaculately by the same women who have come this far and been beyond brave in their pursuit to progress breaking every sort of barrier that comes along into bits so tiny that it restores the hope we had lost. Then there are men who battle and support such women without sheltering under sexism or in most of the cases sugar-coated neutrality which is always a danger-free zone. There are men who will not ignore a women getting disrespected online as much as they won’t ignore a woman getting disrespected on the streets. These are the few people who help us to hold on to the warm hope that one day, a good one of course, all of us will muster up the courage to give cyber bullying, inclusive of issues bigger than just disrespecting women, the fate it deserves.