In a segment on the show, Kyra, the mother of two year old Mariah Anderson, was extremely upset because a photo that she had shared of her daughter- who suffers from a disorder that affects her chromosomes- on her second birthday was being used to provide jokes and laughs, at her baby's expense. When she posted the photos, Kyra was especially happy because she wasn't sure how much longer her child would live. What was meant to be celebrated, became hurtful after she realized the photos she posted were being circulated on social media and were being made fun of in the form of memes. Now, this photo in particular, I saw it, but I never re-posted, shared, or commented on it, because even though I personally think baby Mariah is adorable, I saw all the jokes and negative comments being made and thought, 'I'm not going to join in on the laughter and jokes!' because I could tell she was obviously suffering from some form of sickness, even though I didn't know that at the time. Now let me make this clear, I'm not a saint, nor have I ever claimed to be one. I am a natural giggle box- meaning I laugh at just about any and everything...IF it's funny. However, I didn't find the jokes and comments being made about this baby funny at all. I won't re-post her photo here, because the mother and her child have suffered enough from the photos continuously being circulated on the internet, but if you want to read the story, here's the link to the segment: http://www.steveharveytv.com/a-parents-horrifying-story-of-cyber-bullying-over-their-two-year-old-daughters-photo/
A few days after I first saw the pic on Facebook, I came across a news story where Kyra was upset because she'd found out that the photos she'd shared of her baby were being made fun of, and she was asking people to delete the pics and memes being made. Naturally, there were some people who still felt the need to talk trash, saying "She should have never posted the photos in the first place if she didn't want public scrutiny." Even after seeing that their hateful words and pics hurt this mother, they still continued to do it.
That's one of the biggest problems with social media- it's a platform for bullies and cowards to say what they want, because they will more than likely never meet the person being made fun of, so there will be no consequences. It's no different than celebrities, or even authors. When I first started writing, one of my biggest setbacks was the negativity that I knew was sure to come with putting my work out there for the world to read. As good as I think my books are, I knew that not everybody would agree. The first time I read a negative review, I almost let it discourage me into never writing again, but then I thought, who cares what these haters think. Could they commit themselves to sitting down for days, hours, and sometimes months at a time to write a book? Nope, because they're too busy scrolling on social media, hating on the people that do.
A long time ago, someone told me, "Everybody is not going to like you, and you just have to be okay with that." That's the same thing that applies with social media. Just because you post things that you're proud of, doesn't mean other's will share your enthusiasm. Luckily, I've learned to tell people what they can do with themselves if they have an issue with what I post, and I move on. Like Steve told Kyra, "You have to take things with a grain of salt and just tell people to kiss your ass, sometimes; because most of the time, when people go out of their way to be hurtful, hateful, and negative, it has absolutely nothing to do with you." It's so easy to sit behind a laptop or smart phone and criticize the next person, because they have nothing else going for themselves, so they hate on a person who does.
Looking at how sad and upset Kyra was as she talked about the hurtful things she had to read about her baby, was heartbreaking. Unfortunately, most people won't care. In fact, it will only make them come at her ever harder. If you let a bully know they've hurt you, you've given them more ammunition to keep coming after you. We live in a cold, cruel world, where compassion and empathy has all but disappeared. And social media only makes matters such as these worse. Some people seem to think that if you don't want to be criticized, you should keep your personal life to yourself and off the internet. Do you agree with this? Does sharing things about your private life automatically mean that you've opened your door and invited the haters to step inside your world and pick it apart, piece by piece? Would love to hear thoughts!
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