The internet is largely anonymous. It is easy to make judgements on people we know and it is even easier to make snap judgements on people on the television. In this age where celebrity is a concept that has been diluted because of reality TV it has coincided with the explosion of social media.
Therefore people on the TV and in the papers are more regular than before. Newspapers will run stories and photos of reality TV stars causing people to have more vocal opinions on said people. A few months ago Jesy Nelson was getting bullied over her looks and today in The Sun Cher Lloyd is talking about internet bullying. It just makes me shake my head.
I was talking this morning to one of the girls on the ITV1 dating show Take Me Out and she was saying she hadn’t received anything too bad but other girls had received a lot of hate via social media. This hate isn’t just hate but it directed at them personally and that to me just seems bizarre. Did no-one teach the social media generation that internet bullying is still bullying? Saying personal and mean things to people for no apparent reason – certainly people who are strangers is just not right.
Cher Lloyd is quoted in the piece linked to above talking about Jesy Nelson, “I went to a party and noticed that Little Mix were there, but Jesy wasn’t.
“So I called her up and she said, ‘I just don’t feel good about myself’.
“And that’s down to cyber bullying.
“That made this girl not go out and see all the crazy stuff that she could be doing, because of comments. She missed a great night. She’s such a bubbly girl — the type of girl I wanted to be friends with at school.
“So it was so hurtful to see her so down when she had this massive opportunity just beginning to open up in front of her.
“After going through the highs of the audition process, she was brought down to the bottom again because of someone being nasty about her.
How can that be right? I know that David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd quit twitter a few months back because of a handful of muppets who kept sending him abuse and swearing at him and he decided that it just wasn’t worth it. He has since returned to twitter but still that is why he stopped for the best part of a year. Does being mean to people that you don’t know make these people feel big?
I remember when Cher Lloyd was on The X Factor the amount of abuse she got was something else. A lot of it not directed at her personally but some it is was. Commentating in your twitter timeline that in your opinion she doesn’t have a voice is probably fair cop but tweeting her and calling her a no talent whore is certainly not. Yet this is what she had to face.
Putting yourself out there in reality TV terms means that you are opening yourself up to abuse. Yes that is the way it is but it doesn’t make it right. When it comes to people that you don’t know then why be so personal? If you don’t have something nice to say about people you see on TV then why say anything at all to them?
The social media generation seem to be more open to bullying. It is something that is a real concern. It isn’t just with reality TV but school bullies can bully outside the school and at evenings and weekends. Bullying is a real problem for the future moving forward.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Please leave any comments or contact me directly via the E-Mail Me link on the Right Hand Nav. You can stay in touch with the blog following me on Twitter or by liking the blog on Facebook. Please share this content via the Social Media links below if you think anyone else would enjoy reading.
Be First to Comment