Striking where it hurts: Pros and cons of Cyber world
3 simple steps people use online to get back at the ones who have offended them
By : anisha dhiman
Update: 2014-08-18 23:45 GMT
Hyderabad: Angry at a friend but want to avoid a showdown? What about the “fakes” who spam your wall? “Unfollowing” someone on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. has become a popular option and you can be rest assured that the person you have “unfollowed” will get the hint. Selena Gomez has done it, Taylor Swift has braved it and we are pretty sure you’ve been the victim or the guilty party.
Like Selena who deleted Kylie and Kendall Jenner as they were “toxic distractions”, actress Sanjjanaa was happy to get rid of the “negative energy” in her life.
“I have an official page which is handled by my company, so such a situation hasn’t really arisen. But I have an account where I keep in touch with my school friends and others. That was where one of them decided to pick a fight. I feel it’s immature to exploit social media when you can always sort out things face-to-face. After the incident, we deleted each other and I am glad I did it because I wouldn’t want to have such negative energy in my life,” she says, adding, “She tried to add me back when my movies were about to release, but for me it was a big ‘no’.”
Psychologists feel that this trend arises from the need to seek validation at a platform (social media) where it can never be validated. “Social media is fleeting, you can never compare it to a real friend and to seek recognition in terms of friendship can appear shallow,” says Dr Diana Monteiro, counselling psychologist.
“When someone ‘unfollows’ or deletes you on social media, it’s generally because they want to avoid confrontation. The Web provides us with this option where you can get rid of a person who annoys you just virtually. That’s how interpersonal relationships suffer. But social media is a reality; it does exist so there is no running away from it either.”
There have been numerous instances where people have created fake profiles to have a false identity. And that’s when people go on an overdrive deleting such “friends” who start posting weird stuff on their networking page. “That’s what the platform also has to offer, attention, but of the wrong kind,” adds Dr Diane.
And Priyanka Chigurupati, city socialite and a fashionista, agrees. “I hate to admit it but I’m conscious about who adds me and who deletes me. I’ve heard of an incident where a friend took offense to a friend who ‘unfollowed’ her on Twitter,” says Priyanka, adding, “Soon after that, she ‘unfollowed’ her friend and she deleted her on Facebook as well. She would check her followers every week to see if they were still following her or not; it was weird but I’m not shocked. The ‘unfollowing’ also comes from people wanting more followers than the number they follow.”