Trolling & Stalking are not a one-time Joke but a Lifelong Havoc

Trolling and online stalking are not a one-time joke but a lifelong havoc for a woman’s life. In fact, in some cases, trolling and harassment on social media has had an effect devastating enough to propel people into depression. In  others people have eventually committed suicide because what happens on their social media becomes harder than ever to say.

The survivors of online harassment can only be compared to the old man in Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea as in today’s day and age, it is very difficult to escape the cyber trolls because a person’s status changes with a click, like, tweet or a retweet. In the middle of all of this, ensuring online security for women is a mammoth task for the agencies involved. Shows like MTV Troll Police do from absolutely little or nothing to help tackle this menace as these are scripted dramas and the guests on these shows are known celebrities and it is only the cyber cells are the perfect places to approach in cases of online harassment.

Networking is cool but there is an imperative need to draw some lines with regards to your privacy.

Some measures that can be taken to ensure online safety for women are:

1. One should accept friend requests from “friends” only. This is because what lies behind a profile picture may be far from real. Networking is cool but there is an imperative need to draw some lines with regards to your privacy.
2. Have strong alphanumeric passwords because these are difficult to break through.

In the end, all the women users of social media need to be strong and they also need to realise that their personalities are way more than Instagram likes or retweets.

Women are much more worthwhile beings and social media apps and sites like Sarahah.com and Instagram do not and cannot decide their worth.

Mehak Agarwal is a student of Kamala Nehru College, New Delhi and this effort is a part of Google India and SheThePeople initiative Digital Trust Dialogues across colleges in India.