Jay Whittle - We need to end anonymity to stop the dreadful trolls

Social media is a huge part of our lives. It’s used in everything, and it’s everywhere.
Struggling Caroline Flack attends courtStruggling Caroline Flack attends court
Struggling Caroline Flack attends court

We all use it; our friends and family use it, advertisers use it, celebrities, retail brands, you name it.

The world population is 7.3 billion and the internet has over 3.17 billion users.

Social media is an unhealthy addiction in today’s world.

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It’s the first thing that you probably check in the morning, and the last thing you look at before you go to bed.

It’s addictive- and there’s no denying that you probably can’t imagine life without it.

But there’s a lot of positives about the various social media platforms that we all use.

If you think back to your own experiences, we’ve all seen an incident on social media which has inspired, or touched us in a special way.

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Whether it’s been people coming together to help find a missing person or animal or support someone through illness, social media can be a great place to be.

It can help reconnect loved ones, and allow people to stay in touch from afar, but despite all the positives, there’s a really dark side to social media, which has a direct impact on people’s mental health.

Social media is the location where the majority of online bullying- if not all- happens.

It occurs on an almost hourly basis, and it gives a platform for faceless and shameless bullies to ‘troll’ and purposely make somebody’s life a living hell.

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Individuals can tweet whatever they like- with limited restrictions- to whoever they like no matter how offensive it may be.

The majority of celebrities and sports stars will have suffered a level of online abuse in their fame- some more than others- and I believe a lot of people forget there’s a human being with feelings behind a blue tick.

The heart-breaking death of former Love Island presenter Caroline Flack over the last weekend is another tragic reminder of how the social media and celebrity lifestyle can sink anyone.

One minute, you could be a hero with the entire world at your feet, but the next, you can be a villain where everybody is against you.

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A lot of people will see a tweet online, and think it’s just words on a computer or mobile screen, but it’s much more than that- there’s always someone on the other side.

Social media trolling is a issue that is known by the vast majority of people - and it is a main form of cyber bullying today. Internet trolls are people who hide behind their computers or phones, and go out of their way to cause misery online- which is truly disgusting.

They leave intentionally provocative or offensive messages on the internet in order to get attention, cause trouble or upset someone.

They are sick people who get a kick from upsetting those they target with abuse- and if the victim responds, it only spurs them on to continue.

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Twitter, unfortunately to name the main home of trolling, allows users to hide behind anonymous names and photographs to protect their identity.

To trolls, it might seem like there are no consequences due to the anonymity that the internet can provide, but there are consequences for the person you are targeting, and for yourself.

It can cause heightened levels of anxiety and lower self-esteem for the victim.

Trolling hurts people, and it affects an individual’s mental health, and that’s the sad but brutal reality. It can highlight insecurities you already have and create new ones

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It can draw unprovoked abuse from complete strangers about your life, and it happens to a lot of celebrities because all their lives are well documented by press organisations.

You may be thinking, as long as social media exists, there will still be trolls.

That is true, you can try to eradicate the problem, but there’s only so much you can do because individuals will always find a way to cause hurt and pain.

But you can reduce the issue, and in doing so, help improve mental health and help prevent someone from taking their own life.

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I believe that nobody should be allowed social media without full and in-depth identification. It is so easy to make a social media account which has no personal ties, and this is where the problem lies.

Anonymity can easily be achieved, but once you take that away through identification, everyone is accountable for their own actions and there can be real consequences for anyone who commits an act of trolling.

I believe if this comes into tuition, we will see a reduction in online abuse and trolling, and an improvement in mental well-being, at least online.

But this is just part of the problem. As humans, we need to be better. Everyone waxes lyrical about the importance of mental health, but do we really do enough to spot the signs and offer our support?

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Mental health is invisible. You can have anxiety but still sound confident. You can have depression but still crack jokes and smile.

You can feel suicidal but still turn up to work every day and appear ‘fine’

I want to encourage everyone to always check in on their loved ones and not to just assume how they must be feeling with how they look.

If you are a person who is reading this who is suffering from mental health, please try and reach out for support.

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Sometimes it’s hard to just start the conversation but your friends and family will always understand that.

If you are the friends and family to someone who is suffering, make the effort to reach out. It doesn’t matter if you are busy - it’s just an excuse- no one can be too busy to support a friend or family member in need.

Go and see them, don’t make them feel like they are having to make the conversation and make them feel good about themselves.

We can all make a difference and break the stigma around mental health together.

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It should never take someone to take their own life for the world to open their eyes and realise that mental health should be much more important.

As Caroline Flack poignantly said before her passing.

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

I suggest we all start to follow this message, to ensure the world can become a better and happier environment for all.