By Sanjukta Das Bhowmick

In this digital age, no one’s life is private anymore. Starting from celebrities to individuals, everyone is busy trying to show the world what they are doing, every moment of every day.

With the proliferation of online social platforms, there is no dearth of opportunities of display. The Kardashians with their online show “living it up with the Kardashians” left no stones unturned to give the public wide access to every moment of their lives.

Such acts of public display brings in its wake a lot of other things than just attention and followers. You are inviting people to comment, give an opinion on your life. So be ready to face Bullying. Get trolled for expressing your opinion.

The recent unfolding of events should have given you an idea that there is nothing like freedom of expression in this democracy of ours.

In such a pickle, what is it that you should do? Reply to Trolls to prove your point? Or ignore them and block the one commenting? Which is the better way out?

Some will say ignoring is easier, you don’t have to deal with someone else’s stupidity. You do not owe an answer to thickheads.

On the other hand, if that person was sitting in front of you and doing the same thing? Would you have remained silent then? Ignored it? Or spoken up? Stood for what you believe in?

It is the same thing. Cyber bullying is no less real than real life bullying. Both should be reported and taken action against.

It is your life. It is up to you what you post, what you write. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but they have no right to encroach on your private space and comment something demeaning or hurtful.

At times, ignoring may seem the easier and the better option. But the more you ignore, the more these people get the chance to go on with their stupid shit.

Now it is you, the next time it will be someone else, and a vicious circle will be created, with the perpetrators getting away with ease.

Don’t take cyber bullying lightly. Voice your protest. Support what you wrote if you think that is genuine and valid.

Trolls on the other hand are insulting and pokes fun at the cost of the person. While it may seem that trolls is the less evil of the two, it is not so. Trolls survive for a long time and scar the person in question.

According to a study conducted in 2004, “cyber trolling” is “an internet manifestation of everyday sadism”. Trolls have as their aim to harass people to generate the “lulz” content. Bur this goes out of hand most of the times, and the trolls create serious trouble.

Handling trolls needs some smart manoeuvring, otherwise you might come out looking vicious. The people are going to blame you saying it was just innocent fun. You took it seriously, thereby putting you in the bad light.

There are so many different varieties of trolls these days that handling each of them requires a different approach.

The Angry Troll is the most typical of them all. Created about a genuine grievance that the person might have felt about something, it is conveyed in not so delicate terms.

The best way to deal with this type of troll, is to keep your cool, and respond with thought out statements which will make the other person see the reason and back down.

There are no guarantees though.

The Joker Troll

It is termed as the internet court jester. Best way to handle them is join in on the fun and make light of the whole situation. That way the situation is easily taken care of.

Those Mean Vengeful One

Then there are the plain mean trolls. Such people are mean and cruel. They do it just for the sake of it. They don’t like you or they are jealous of you. Either way, same story.

The best track here is to troll right back. Put them in their place.

Put some zazz into your replies and show them who the boss is.

The Serious Violent Trolls

The worst trolls that anyone can experience are the scary-violent ones. These go out of their way in degrading a person, digging up the identity and personal information and spreading it across the internet.

Do not back down, but report it. Don’t let them slip away so easily. It even violates the network’s rules and regulations.

These are some of the ways to handle cyber bullying. No matter what you had done in the past, do not back down anymore. Why give those people a chance to comment something on your life?

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