Online harassment

Contacting a person repeatedly with an intent to annoy, criticize or demotivate them using foul and indecent language is considered to be online harassment. It is a rising issue that needs to be fought. It may not affect people physically, but many tend to get bothered mentally and give up on their goals and dreams due to continuous harassment.

Usually, such behavior is exhibited by people who are insecure about themselves. They are mentally aware that they lack certain things, and are thus determined to discourage people who are good at what they do. They find satisfaction in bringing down people who are better than them. In extreme cases, some even get harassed through death threats.

Though harassment in the real world is mostly targeted towards people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and most recently Asians, the virtual world is completely different. Almost anybody and everybody can get bullied online.

Dealing with such negativity may not be a piece of cake, but is definitely not impossible. Small, concrete steps can be taken to fight such sadistic intentions

1. Know that family and friends are always on your side and remember, it is not your fault. Never keep such issues to yourself since sharing them with people you trust will ease your burden. There is surely someone whom you can trust, and at such times when you need him/her make sure to avail their help. Your family, friends, and other well-wishers are always looking out for you.

2. You can always block, mute, or report hate comments on social media platforms. Try not to take the negative comments to heart, attempt to improve on yourself, and make sure to focus on nothing but your goals. However, blocking and muting do have their own disadvantages. Blocking someone can escalate the abuse and send through a message that you are not brave enough to face people, and muting them can result in you being unaware of potentially dangerous threats. This is why you can ask a trusted friend or relative to keep an eye out for such dangers. Also, collect as much evidence as possible so that you can report the abusers.

Abusive trolls may even try to humiliate you by leaking private information. To keep yourself safe, attempt to boost your knowledge on cybersecurity and cultivate password hygiene (i.e. keeping long passwords and not repeating them) This ensures that the abuser will be unable to invade your privacy. Keep yourself as secure as possible on the Internet.

If you keep in mind that you are not at fault, you can definitely win this battle. Avoid resorting to giving up and abusing yourself. Even if you are introverted, speak out. No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, gender identity: just speak up for yourself. Remember that you are not powerless and neither are you alone. Take care of your own health, be it mental or physical.

These measures will definitely prove to be advantageous someday, trust me on this (: