Do not blow someone else’s candle in hopes of making your own shine brighter!

An overview to the alarming threat:-
What happens when someone calls you nerd or body-shames you online!? What if they post embarrassing photos of you on social media and try to harass you!? If all of that is happening, chances are that you will be dreadful of every notification, text or call you get and most probably you are a threatful target of cyberbullying!

So, what is the dictionary-definition of cyberbullying? It is a form of bullying that takes place via internet-connected devices like smartphones, computers, or tablets. In other words, cyberbullying is the misuse of technology to intimidate, harass, threaten, torment, or humiliate a target, i.e., the person in target. Any online platform that allows sharing of information can become a medium for cyberbullying such as social-networking sites, mails, text messages, games and many more.

Unfortunately, cyberbullying has become an alarming threat. It affects the mental health of the victim and can make his/her life miserable. Not only this, in many uncontrolled cases, the victim commits suicide inspite of fighting back.

In modern world, people are glued to smartphones or laptops, thus giving ample amount of space for cyberbullying to happen. Say for example, scrolling  through Instagram or any other social-networking site, we see numerous hateful posts and even witness the comment-section full of hatredness and misbehaviour. But, there’s no full stop to it.

Manier times, it seems like the only solution to escape from being cyberbullied or witness it happening, is to disconnect from the internet altogether because if all this lingers, it targets the mental health drastically and living seems like suffering. According to stats, India recorded third highest online bullying rate in the global list of cyberbullying. Due to such an incremental path of cyberbullying, the vulnerability has increased manier folds.

So, the ultimate point is to think about the steps of preventing it. Primarily, hiding such incidents from parents or close-ones is not a clever act, rather, sharing it with them is a clever act. Moreover, the sooner you ask for help, the better and sooner you’ll be free of it. But, in any case, whatever you do, refuse to play their game. If they smell blood, they’ll attack again, so don’t show any of your weaknesses to them. Another option is to confront them. The culprits find themselves powerful hiding behind the screen, but face-to-face, it might become a different story, just like a barking dog never bites. And that’s what they do, they just bark online for fun, showing over-coolness, spilling out abusive words, and trying to feel good about themselves.

However, if they are persistent and these strategies don’t work, the very next step is to seek assistance from the legal authorities. There is no specific legislation that provides specific cyberbullying laws in India, but, provisions such as Section 67 of the Information Technology Act deals with cyberbullying in a certain way. Other than Section 67 of the IT Act, Section 507 IPC and Section 66E of IT Act describes cyberbullying as a punishable offence and those found guilty are placed before jurisdiction.

Lastly, there are many people who would say that cyberbullying is not a big deal and many become a part of it wittingly or unwittingly. So, think before saying or judging someone. It is happening with some stranger today, but tomorrow you can also be its prey. Remember, you must always stay strong and walk by the path of humanity at every instance.

A small quotation for awareness – “Do not blow someone else’s candle in hopes of making your own shine brighter!”