Hyderabad: Adding to newer ways of cyber bullying and cyber harassment that young girls and women face, are “confession pages” showing sensational confessions posted by miscreants, linked to popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and surprisingly OLX (a popular site for buying and selling).
In most cases, the victims are not even aware till someone points out the existence of such a “confessions page” or a “fake profile” linked to the sites, which are visible to all contacts.
As per psychologists, such cases leave an indelible mark on youngsters and often push them into seclusion. Such cases are constantly on the rise with psychologists seeing 10 to 15 such youngsters seeking help each day. The police also records 20 cyber bullying cases in the city each month as per the Hyderabad Central Crime Station.
Consultant psychologist Dr K. Prashant said that cyber bullies often came from families where they have seen a lot of criticism, subjected to harsh rules or made to feel insignificant. “Being a victim of cyber bullying often leads to a condition called ‘learned helplessness’ where a person starts believing that he or she is helpless.
That’s what happens to a lot of victims of cyber bullying as they first try to deal with it on their own with limited efforts. Not seeing any results, they start feeling helpless. This helplessness then permeates into every aspect of their life and eventually they start living in fear.
Cyber bullying is a form of terrorism. It’s like guerrilla warfare; you don’t know your enemy and it is difficult to fight back.” Depending on one’s personality, it may take anywhere between two weeks to a couple of months for victims to recover from the condition.
“One of the newest way of harassing somebody is by posting an advertisement for ‘friendship’ online with the victim’s contact number. Facebook, Twitter and OLX are the commonly used sites,” said DCP of Hyderabad Central Crime Station Pala Raju.
At least 40 per cent of schoolchildren are at the receiving end of cyber bullying, cyber stalking and cyber defamation as per cyber security expert Rakshit Tandon. “Most cyber crime perpetrators are school and college goers between the age group 15 to 30,” said the expert.
However, majority of the cases of cyber bullying are individuals targeting each other and in most cases men targeting ex-girlfriends, estranged wives and young students lashing out at each other.
“Since a bully is essentially afraid and hence operates from behind a mask, the best way to deal with cyber bullying is to speak up,” says Dr Prashant.
