Who are mainly at risk?

Those who are victimised are mainly youths of society. In parts of the western world, it is the norm for teenagers to go through that awkward stage of self discovery and trying to fit in with social groups but they also experience the downside of being social outcasts. There are people out there whose only form of escape from their own drab lives is to make others feel their deadly impact. Furthermore, the families of the victims are also affected by the harassment. It is only natural that the family of the individual being attacked will support them and try to either contact the authorities or take matters into their own hands. It may start out as a small matter but then when it becomes serious, family members will step in to try and neutralise the problem, although it escalates out of control at times and both parties are in trouble from the law.

The online harassment dilemma does not discriminate about status in a cyber oriented/savvy society. That is, even public figures in a society are targets of public harassment whether provoked or not. For instance, those celebrities in parts of Asia are highly sort after by fandoms (organised groups of fans) online as well as anti-fans (rival fans of other celebrities) and are the equivalent of the paparazzi – stalkers in western society. There are loyal supporters and there are those who may turn ‘anti’ if their favoured idol’s social habits differ from the expected image. Consequently, celebrities in those countries have to tread carefully not just with their image but also their private lives – a musician cannot maintain a relationship with someone without being spotted in public and so-called fans become enraged online (emotional from non-existent relationships with them), therefore an unnecessary public apology is made for something so private. Such public display of online behaviour is really unnecessary as it becomes a matter of public figures versus mass peer pressure from netizens – online communities are judge and jury in a social game with people’s lives. The usual results from mass pressure on their celebrity victims are that some close down their social network accounts, disappear from the limelight for a while or they resort to suicide. One cannot blame these local icons for their coping methods because they can endure only so much along with their fears of public criticism/awareness of private matters. To make matters worse, the media exploits such small things into an issue where others become aware of it and it grows worse.