Arbaaz Khan: Last year, taught us the magnitude of social media

While the pandemic took a toll last year and affected everyone in different ways, Trolling of celebs on social media took on another level. Arbaaz Khan, who too has been bullied and trolled online, admits he doesn’t take it seriously as his “peace of mind is of importance”.

“There was a big section of people, like a wave, who trolled celebs. It became trendy to go after celebs because of the kind of brainwashing that happened due to certain media channels. It was a pandemic in its own way. It was fashionable to go after celebs, who are achievers or even ones who aren’t doing much- it was all so disturbing. Some handled it graceful, some lashed out, others were upset and some ignored it. It was unfortunate and taught us a lot,” says the actor, who feels sometimes certain things happen to teach us a lesson.

“Last year, taught us the magnitude of social media and how it affects lives. It is no more about posting fun pics, about dining or travel. We are all accountable for whatever we do online. There is a sense of responsibility as well,” shares Khan.

He admits that the pandemic, lockdown and unlock we hard, most celebs were not affected as much yet everyone felt the brunt in some way. “We were all taken aback and disturbed in the larger sense, more for others than for ourselves. For people like us, to whom God has been kind, we could take it and it was a much-needed break but what we saw around us, we didn’t enjoy the break as the suffering around us affected us too. We tried to help as many people as possible. On the other hand, even we had bills to pay and things to take care of. We felt the crunch too, but of course, it wasn’t the same like many others who suffered whose daily lives were affected. There were lack of medical infrastructure, beds, medicines, oxygen and thankfully, things are better now and getting jabbed is the only way out.”

The actor who is gearing up for the second season of his chat show, Pinch, feels cyber bullying is growing every day. He is glad to share the conversations with superstars on his show, which give the viewers a glimpse of their real selves. “On the show, Kareena Kapoor Khan admitted that she was on Insta under an anonymous name and had been keeping a tab on everyone. So I told her to get a real account as she has fans and she did. One of the reasons that stars come on my show is to say that they face trolls and cyber bullying too and how they deal with it. They are candid, open and honest maybe because they know me or I am a colleague. That’s why the show connects with the people as it is real.”