Cyberbullying…the unwanted attention

My article is about unwanted text messages which barely make sense when you don’t even want to talk to the person on the other end.

A working woman, a housewife, a young girl trying to adult, a novice young man trying to decipher ‘corporate drama’ ….we all have received messages such as ‘Hi’, ‘How are you?’ repeatedly from people we have refrained from conversing. Some of us follow the following steps to avoid dealing with these individuals:

1. We block them (The easiest and obvious one)
2. We confront them few times and then block them
3. We do not respond for some time if it is a known individual. But, we go ahead and block them eventually

But, why these individuals can’t go beyond the aimless conversation starter? Let’s categorize people into two segments ‘happy to talk to’ and ‘sceptical to talk to’

There is always a welcome vibe, an appreciation associated with the ‘happy to talk to’ bunch. But, the struggle is with the ‘sceptical to talk to’ ones.

Sceptical can be of multiple categories, a creepy friend, a stranger from corporate and a random lover (I guess these days men and women all can relate). When these segments of individuals approach you how do you deal with it? As an introvert, it has been both a scary and a brave journey in taking charge of these conversations and making them go away forever hoping they don’t bother others.

But, are we all comfortable when someone starts encroaching your inbox with unwanted ‘Hi’ and ‘How are you?’ Loneliness, insecurities and unreliability are some of the traits of these individuals who try to creep you out knowingly or unknowingly. My heart goes out to them hoping they heal from all the traumas that make them disturb others.

However, I prefer we must have helplines on WhatsApp to report if someone is harassing you or bothering you in some way or the other. Our society can give all the necessary handbooks to help us. But, it is onto us ‘the victims’ to create guidelines on dealing with harassers. No matter who you are, what your age is, no junior, same age or senior person has a right to harass you or creep you out even when you have stated your boundaries clearly.

Awareness and Collective strength to raise voice against ‘Cyber-Bullying’ are very important. Below, are some noteworthy stats from India and other demographies

A number of cyberstalking and bullying incidents against women and children across India in 2019, by leading state. Source: Statista, 2019

Share of adult internet users in the United States who have personally experienced online harassment as of January 2020, Source: Statista

It is crucial for all of us to acknowledge how cyberbullying in any form (let’s categorize it as any unwanted behaviour) can lead to mental health issues. Why some people are able to walk free demeaning someone else’s self-confidence? We do talk about empathy and mental health coaching. But, are we even doing our bit by raising voices for those who can’t.

(Source: Statista.com)

Teens (61%) who report being bullied say it was because of their appearance (Source: Nveee.org)

Think about it! How can we stop some people from making any creepy attempts and disturbing someone else’s mindset and life just because he/she fails to have a peaceful life?