[This found poem is written in white font on a black background, as a metaphor that just because things may seem dark and deceitful at first glance, the truth can still be found]
For my found poem, I took an example from my personal life that evoked anger and confusion, as well as sadness. Social media can be a positive thing, or a negative thing, depending on who is using it and for what purpose. A trend that is fairly new to Instagram, is the creation of fake Instagram accounts, or “Finstagrams”. Usually these accounts are private accounts that users make, where they can go to rant, post funny or maybe inappropriate photographs and captions that they otherwise wouldn’t want to be on their normal, public Instagram profile. This specific example comes from the Finstagram account that belongs to my former best friend. Normally, posts about consuming alcohol, rants about school, or funny captions that may not make sense to post on her normal profile is what made up this account. However, after a bit of a hard time in our friendship, she turned to this fake Instagram to vent, rather than to me.
While this post is something that I can now laugh at and roll my eyes over, to some, posts as such are not as easy to get over. Cyberbullying is defined as “bullying that takes place over digital devices such as cell phones, computers, and tablets, which includes, but is not limited to, SMS and text message, social media, forum, online gaming, any other app that allows people to view, participate and share content” by the National Crime Prevention Center. Cyberbullying is still a strong form of bullying, considered to be a growing problem, and when students are asked to indicate which social media platforms they experienced cyberbullying on, 42% of students chose Instagram.
I chose this caption, that was full of hurtful lies and deceit, put on the internet for anyone to see, because it helped portray my feelings towards the situation as well. While it was untruthful from her side, an attempt for me to look like a villain and her to look like a victim, in reality, it was the other way around. That’s how cyberbullying works; lies and rumors and targeting occurs to make others feel inferior. Luckily, I was able to recognize that while for my former best friend, these words were fleeting and fake, for me, I could personally relate to many of the things she said. While this is a very personal example, I am willing to share it, to draw attention to a bigger picture; posting hurtful and deceitful posts on any social media platform is a serious offense and ultimately not worth it.
