Social media, a huge part of our day-to-day lives, is growing by leaps and bounds. A few networks like Facebook and Snapchat, instead of turning a blind eye to issues like domestic violence and harassment, are trying to figure out new ways to help victims. Facebook was the first to take measures against harassers and stalkers, by improving their privacy settings. They also made it easier to report harassers and stalkers, so action can be taken against them. More recently, an account was launched on Snapchat that provides free counselling for people in abusive relationships. And local youngsters are pretty active on these new platforms, for counselling or just to voice their opinions.
“This account was basically launched for teenagers in the country who are in abusive relationships and feel like they don’t have anybody to talk to” says Nida Sheriff, a co-founder of the account, based in Bengaluru. “For anybody who has been physically and emotionally abused, trusting another person and expressing what they are going through is understandably very hard. And if it’s a person on the internet, it’s even harder. Speaking as a victim, my main fear would be that the information will not be kept private and will be let out to my family members, or even worse, the person who abused me. And with mobile phones being able to take screenshots of conversations today, it is even scarier” says Teena Arora, a student who was in an abusive relationship.
While privacy is a concern for most victims, others wonder how it will be any different from actually going to a counselor in person. “When my husband physically abused me a couple of times, I knew I had to tell someone. I informed some of my close friends and they refused to believe me because my husband is well educated and has a stable job. They even hinted that I might have done something to provoke him. And if my closest friends don’t believe me and can’t help, how is someone going to understand what I’m going through over an app? And more importantly, what can do that will benefit me in any way?” asks Neha Agarwal, a mother of two.
“Counseling is very tricky in person and will definitely be trickier online” says Dr Padmavati, a clinical psychologist. “The idea is great but I don’t think it will create a huge impact. It is easy to give advice online because you think the victim is being honest. But most victims of domestic violence find it difficult to open up and are not honest. So what helps us understand them better is their body language. We try and decode how they react to certain questions to find out whether they are telling the truth or not. This cannot be done online” explains the psychologist.
