“In Real Life” is a brilliant new anti-bullying campaign that uses actual insults people have said online, and brings them into the real world. Chances are the PSA will make you feel uncomfortable - and that’s exactly the point.
Actors portray the bullies and victims the videos, but reactions of those around are real and unstaged. One scene shows two men having coffee together, when a stranger walks up and says, "Gay people are sick, and you should just kill yourselves!"
The point of the PSA is to highlight the prevalence of online bullying, in the real world, you won’t often see people saying things like that, but online it happens all too often. Reseearchers believe this kind of bullying is normalized online because of anonymity, and the barrier of the internet between victims and bullies creates an empathy gap.
A woman also gets called a “fat bitch” later in the video, and another gets called a “terrorist” for being muslim, while bystanders look on in shock.
"I think that lost sense of safety is really what the impact is," author Sady Doyle said. "There’s mental health stuff, obviously — anyone with a tendency to depression, which I have, will internalize certain mean comments and play them back in a low moment — but it’s mostly the realization that there are people out there that want to hurt you, or your loved ones, and that you can’t necessarily recognize those people on sight, that is so damaging."
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