By Elizabeth Anne Pereira
In the past, Facebook was a great source of joy and comfort for Bella. Bella always enjoyed posting touching and sentimental songs and pictures on her FB wall. However, hell broke loose when cyber bullies and hackers invaded her social networking system. As time went by, cyber bullying and stalking went spiralling out of control.
Consequently, Bella became so overwhelmed and traumatized by the teasing, taunting and defamatory comments online. Moreover, it was disheartening to see her online friends turning into foes, betrayers and traitors. Some of her once cherished good friendships from her childhood, teenage and young adulthood came crumbling down due to the demonic acts of online bullying and stalking. Cyber bullies and hackers certainly messed up her life.
Her once smooth sailing life turned topsy turvy. Intrusion into Bella’s personal and family life was indeed a great violation for her. In fact, her heart broke into a million pieces to witness her once good friends walk out from her life due to diabolic lies, malicious rumours and piercing accusations spread about her on the internet. It was beyond her control as every bit of hot and spicy info about her went viral and Bella became a sensational piece of gossip among fellow netizens. On a personal level, it sent massive waves of shock, panic and fear to Bella. In fact, she became so distressed that her sanity hung on a thread.
No doubt cyber bullying and hacking were bad enough but facing the world was a worse ordeal. The unwanted publicity, gossip and speculation about Bella’s personal life made her feel like she was swimming in shark infested waters. At times, it was like dancing with wolves. Everything just went out of control and her life hit rock bottom. As a matter of fact, it was not easy to recover from the mind blowing trauma and agonizing hurt the online bullies caused me. It took a great toll on Bella mentally, emotionally and psychologically. She ought to take legal action, seek compensation and sue them for the cybercrimes they committed. The defamation had indeed caused Bella a tremendous amount of shame, humiliation and emotional pain. The most painful fact that she had to bear was that the cyber bullies and hackers were people whom she KNEW. They were once her so called friends who set her life on ferocious flames of fire.
In other words, cyberbullying had made her whole world fall apart due to the malicious rumours and gossip which spread like wild fire. Worse still, Bella was deeply saddened when her loved ones were also affected by it. In fact, it actually overshadowed her true identity/self as many people were poisoned and brainwashed by the negative information they heard and read about Bella.
On the grounds of social justice, Bella did not have the chance and opportunity to defend myself, fight for her rights and uphold the truth that most of the information spread about me was half-baked, malicious and erroneous. Hence there was a great deal of character assassination. It was undeniably a breach of trust and confidence, a cybercrime which violated Bella’s rights.
On a positive note, Bella is thankful that, she was able to maintain her sanity, get back on track and overcome the stormy ordeal of cyber bullying and hacking. Through the passage of time, she has learnt to let go of this painful incident and forgive the online bullies and hackers. It’s now a thing of the past and she has gradually moved on with life. On a learning curve, it has made Bella more vigilant and cautious about disclosing personal information online. In the world of cyberspace, Bella will keep her emotions and private life under wraps from prying eyes of paparazzi, nosey parkers and gossip mongers. Sadly, not many victims of cyber bullying are able to overcome the heart wrenching pain and mind boggling trauma. Many of them become suicidal and depressed. Some have even taken their life when the sadness, anguish and pain become unbearable.
Thus, Bella hopes that all netizens especially children, teenagers and young adults take safety precautions and be IT savvy in using social networking sites like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. A small ounce of ignorance and techno-phobia woes can be destructive when cyberbullies and hackers take centre stage, cause massive destruction in cyber space and wreak havoc in your life.