Now, Even Celebrating Graduation On Social Media Can Get You Trolled

A female content creator recently took to social media to share the elated moment when she received her BCom degree as her family came to support her. Himani Gupta posted a picture in a graduation robe with her degree from Amity University in hand, as her father embraced her from the side. While this sounds like the recipe for a heartwarming moment where nothing could go wrong, Gupta's followers had a lot of nitpicking to do in her achievement. The trolls began mocking Gupta for attending Amity University, saying things like, "Amity? Sad yaar."

Completely sidelining her triumph and the adorable picture, netizens were more focused on Gupta's choice of university. The picture of Gupta has now gone viral on social media, with people who do not even know her commenting harsh things. While Gupta has taken most of the comments sportively, she shared a post on X (Twitter) that the comments are now turning hurtful.

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A post shared by himani gupta (@8teen_wolf)

What's Up With Amity?

While Himani Gupta posted the picture hoping for congratulations to pour in, netizens zoomed in on her degree to find that she pursued a Bachelor in Commerce from Amity University, bombarding her with humiliating comments. One user said, "Bcom aur wo bhi Amity se, the only thing that degree would be useful is to wrap rotis in it.”

Gupta shared that she completed her BCom online, which was also a subject that bothered the trolls. Some went a step further, shamelessly mocking her for expressing pride and joy over her graduation. The trolls said things like "It's just BCom from online classes. What's there to be proud of," while some others were extremely ruthless.

Graduate from Amity University in BCom in Online mode and she wants her father to be proud of that. Seriously?
That's clear shAme not proud🙂

Shayad inhi harakaton ki wajah se honour kiLL!ngs ke liye majboor ho rhi hain kuch family💔 https://t.co/81dO5m0lOD

— Bruce Wayne (@Bruce_Wayne_07) December 16, 2023

B. com from Amity. What's there to be so proud of??

— Gopal S (@gopal_S935) December 17, 2023

The comments from X's "verified" accounts were proof that social media's notion of status symbols and rewards is completely skewed. The new regulations for receiving a verification X have made it difficult to differentiate between legitimate public figures and regular people who are likely to wrongly influence people with their shameful views.

Is Gupta's Degree Unworthy Of Respect?

Gupta ignored most comments or even replied to some of them on her Instagram in a joking manner saying, "Oh My God, you guys with this Amity thing." Some even came to her defence.

People trolling her for graduating from Amity, put your Harvard, Oxford and Princeton degrees on the table please. https://t.co/5lxjZklkP8

— Pratik (@fake_engineer7) December 17, 2023

Soon, Gupta also clarified that she was forced to take online classes because of serious health complications. She said in an X post, "For those asking why I did the online degree thing from Amity: I had an ovary tumour when I was 17 and I get sick so easily, like every other day. So my parents, especially Papa, didn't let me go anywhere out of their sight and I have never been to college."

Gupta's content is known for its humour, sometimes self-deprecating, which is why she does not feel offended by silly trolls too often. However, this time as the comments were about her personal life and did not ask to be made fun of, she felt the need to put out a post asking the hate comments to stop.

"I just posted this pic because I liked the picture and I'm getting a lot of hate comments for nothing. As I said, I make fun of myself for it (being an Amity graduate) too but why hate me? But whatever, have a good day," she expressed in another X post.

Social Media's Blurred Boundaries

Most content creators complain that the worst part of their job is enduring negative comments, especially from female creators. While Gupta's humour is based on self-targeting, this time she was only sharing a happy moment in her life. However, her followers could not read the room and began mocking her, soon garnering the attention of trolls who didn't even know who she was but just wanted to be in on the "fun".

When content creators behave friendly with their followers, interacting with them as they would with a real-life friend, a pretence of acquaintance is built, which most of the time is bad news. Their followers start to believe that they can say anything vile without realising the ill effects of their words. Especially when it comes to women, trolls give no respite-- quick to label them "fake" or "mean" if they retaliate.

Moreover, people also forget that the values and morals that are expected in real life should not be forgotten just because they are seated behind a screen. The same happened in Gupta's case, where her followers forgot that she does not owe anyone an explanation of which degree she pursues which college she attends, or what she chooses to be proud of. So an innocent post turned into a hate show, exposing the dark side of social media once again.