"It's a joke and we're just having fun" (Iris’s story) STORY DESCRIPTION
My name is Iris, I am in high school and I am sharing my story on an unpleasant and traumatic experience about a “simple” post on social networks. In January last year, a big party took place in a famous place in Bucharest, where many girls and boys from my class went. I really wanted to go too, but I had other plans made for that night. I was so upset that I couldn't go, that I wrote a selfish and hurtful post on my Instagram account, addressed to some of my colleagues who were going to this party. Instead of accepting that I can't go, I pretended I didn't want to go. A few weeks later, a girl from my class shared this post with other colleagues. Then, my colleagues and other kids at school started saying awful things about me. Hearing this, I immediately apologized to the girls to whom I addressed the post and tried my best to make things right. They all said they understood and would not comment maliciously anymore. After about half a year, I posted a photo with me on Instagram in which I mentioned "Life is good". A lot of people, including a boy I've been in a relationship with before attacked this post with really mean and rude comments about me. I was so upset that I sent a private message to the girl who seemed to be leading these comments, asking her why she was writing these ugly things and she replied by saying "it's a joke and we're just having fun". Then she continued to write even more petty things about me and also made a post about me on her Instagram account, so I could see it. She threatened me and said "I deserved this" and that she would hurt me and broadcast it live for other people to watch. I was scared and devastated when some of my colleagues whom I thought were my friends commented on how funny she was and how annoying I was. Children from other schools that I didn't even know also participated in this story! I felt attacked and alone. My close friends tried to comfort me, but no one had the courage to actually defend me on social media. I had this horrible feeling of helplessness, shame, and loneliness, and I had the feeling that everyone hated me and talked about me from behind. Some of my friends wrote to me that they would "hang themselves" if people wrote such things about them. I was so confused and sad that I decided to tell my mother and my family. My mother contacted my school counselor who reminded us that all schools have a code of conduct that includes a cyberbullying section that all students should regard.
