5 keys to avoid harassment on Instagram

No one is safe from online bullying. The anonymity in the networks favors that many of the things we say or attitudes we take would be unthinkable in a face to face. In front of a computer screen, we are all brave. And, sometimes (more than it should), we are not able to gauge the consequences of what we say. We forget that, behind the screen, there are people like us, with our strengths and weaknesses, and empathy disappears. It is what you have not seeing the face of the person in front of you.Communication stops being personal to become, sometimes, a dangerous game.

We are going to teach you some of the most important keys to avoid bullying in one of the most frequented social networks by adolescents. Instagram, with more than a billion active users, is an exceptional breeding ground for harassment and cyberbullying. The image is what prioritizes, so sexual harassment and humiliation around disqualifications in relation to the physical abound. This is intended as a guide to avoid harassment on Instagram: it is not infallible but it can be very helpful.

Don't Feed the Troll

Internet trolls feed on fear and victim response. Everyone knows the famous motto 'Don't feed the troll' which literally means 'Don't feed the troll'.This means that what the harasser is looking for, precisely, is to provoke a reaction in his victim The latter responds to the attack, either by attacking or with a defensive comment. And this gives the stalker wings to continue in his efforts to get his victim out of the box. That is why ignoring our attacker is such a useful and necessary maneuver. And complicated.

Imagine the case: if someone sees a picture of you on Instagram and decides to insult you, the most visceral reaction is to respond. But think about this, put yourself in the bully's place. What does he do it for? Why does he insult you? He wants to provoke you. Anddoes not provoke who wants, but who canHe wants, but he can't. He can't because you don't let him. And you don't allow it by not giving it wings. Ignore it, even if he hurts. If he sticks to his guns, you have more tools, which we'll show you below.

Set the comments of your photos

Before proceeding to report the account of the person who insults you, don't forget to capture everything they send you. It is difficult, at this point, for a user to insult you through comments. In September 2017, Instagram implemented a new function to moderate comments, through keywords that the app considered offensive. It was first introduced to those celebrity accounts due to the huge amount of comments they received. Now, we can all configure the comments that users leave us.

If you want to configure the comments section on photos in detail, open the Instagram application and go to your personal menu. You'll find it at the top of the screen, on your page. Scroll down to the 'Settings' section and then 'Comments'.

On this page we will be able to:

• Allow comments from our followers, only people you follow, both, or everyone on Instagram.
• Ban a user leaving any comments
• Apply the filter of abusive comments: Instagram will automatically block comments that it deems offensive.
• Activate filters for keywords: Instagram has a series of words on its blacklist: if we activate the filter and someone uses that word in a comment directed at us, you will be automatically blocked

This is how we're going to make sure the comment section on Instagram is a much more peaceful place.

Block or report an account on Instagram

If we see that the 'Don't Feed the Troll' has not given results, we will proceed to report that account user . It is a very simple procedure:

• We go to the user in question and click on his three-point menu. Here we can, directly, block the account It is an option, although if the harasser is especially virulent we should recommend reporting it to Instagram. With the block we simply prevent him from contacting us but not from him being able to continue doing his thing
• Click on 'Report...'. Next, we have two options: 'It's spam' and 'It's inappropriate'. We will use the first option, simply, if the account in question only exists for advertising purposes. We are interested in the second one
• Here we also choose the second option: 'I think this account violates the Instagram Community Guidelines'.An Instagram text appears with a link to fill out a form. Here we will indicate everything necessary to successfully complete the complaint

• 

We can also report an abuse from our own three-point menu: we scroll down to 'Help' and click on 'Report a problem'. Then 'Report Spam or Abuse' and, on the next screen, we choose our specific case.

Set your account to make it private

Once you have denounced, if you want to give yourself a vacation from public life, we advise you to put a padlock on your account. With this padlock you will hide your posts and only those who follow you can see them And they won't be able to follow you until you accept it: so you can see who it is, if it's an acquaintance, if it is a Spam account, etc.

This setting is reversible: you can make your account public again without any problems. To secure your account we must:

• Go to the three-point menu of our account
• Click on 'Account' and then 'Private account. Activate the switch
• Only people you approve will see your posts. This action does not affect in any way the users who already followed you

Report to the National Police

If despite following all the instructions they continue to harass you on Instagram or any other social network, don't think about it: report, report, and then report againDon't be ashamed: bullying is something very serious and should not be tolerated. That is why we told you at the beginning of the special to keep all the screenshots in which the harassment was visible: this usually happens in private since the comments are filtered.

In 'Story Settings' within your personal menu you can choose who responds to your stories: only people you follow or simply turn it off. Do not choose the 'All' option as there will be no filter.

Here we leave you with the official page of the DGP so that you can locate your nearest police station.

Harassment on Instagram is the order of the day. We hope from your expert that we have shed some light and help all those people who have felt, feel and will feel harassed for the simple fact of exposing themselves in public in a social network. Do not think twice and act!