The Popular Crime

The term stalking conjures up many negative connotations. This behaviour, over the last few decades, has gained more media attention due to the amount of civilians who have decided, for whatever reason, to stalk people.This less than admirable behaviour usually affects people in the spotlight; ie celebrities. Stalking can cause the person under its glare a lot of stress and discomfort. It's horrible and it is scary, I imagine. Who wants to feel as though they are constantly being watched, followed and observed from discreet vantage points.

According to a quick search on Google, Stalking is classified as unwanted or obsessive attention. So why on earth do people decide to stalk? What drives a person to begin stalking? Well, again, a Google source says, "Stalkers see their victims as possessions who are rightfully theirs, and stalking behaviour is frequently activated by a breakup or an ex- partner's new relationship. Another term linked to stalking is called Erotomania, this is a delusion in which a person believes that another person - often a celebrity - is in love with him or her, and basically this can lead to stalking.

In most places, well places where people have too much time on their hands and decide to stalk - these individuals need to recognise - that stalking is deemed as a criminal offence. And rightfully so. If one decides that they must follow, harass, or threaten another person, they had better be prepared for the consequences if they are caught.

But what if you are not caught? What if your stalking does not involve direct harassment, or physical exertion. The type of spying you do does not come from behind a thick hedge with a set of binoculars, or peeping out from a smelly dustbin? What if your stalking comes via social media? From the comfort of your own home. No need to go out or buy a long lense telescope. No. There is a new form of stalking, and it's less stressful and actually cheaper. Well, I suppose that's dependant on how much your monthly data plan is. Having said that, though, the biggest feather that can be pinned to this cap - is that this mode of stalking is something that cannot be policed. (Well one hopes not).

Without a shadow of a doubt this burgeoning new wave of stalking has grown and grown. You really don't use social media properly if you do not engage in a bit of stalking. To be frank - why even bother having social media if you don't snoop from time to time.

From Facebook to Instagram to WhatsApp a modern stalker can sit on their sofa and stalk away until they get dizzy. Sometimes a seasoned stalker can find out a multitude of irrelevant things about whomever they are spying on, because, let's face it, people like to let the whole world know what they are doing. Social media has become a wide open door into peoples homes where a social media savvy crook can just waltz in have a look around and then depart having made snap judgements and compiled a dossier of nonessential mental notes.

Due to time constraints we can't discuss all of the social media ways to stalk. But let us discuss just two. Instagram: This photo sharing app has literally taken over. From budding photographers to narcissists - Instagram caters for anybody and everybody. This is a fantastic forum in which you can stalk until you stumble onto a private account. Not to worry, friend request the the person behind the locked door and if they accept you - then you have carte blanche to go in, and look at all of their photos. Like why not? But a serious note of caution: Do not forget to not like any posts accidentally. That is bad stalking practice. Sometimes, though, your thumb may be having a fat day and you accidentally like a picture that was posted, say from two years ago. This is when you panic, quickly unlike the picture and hope that the person doesn't realise that you have taken the time to scroll down their whole entire photo album. That was a close one.

WhatsApp: Who doesn't have WhatsApp? If you had WhatsApp pre the stupid app upgrade you will be aware that you could scroll through all of your contacts/favourites and look at their uploaded pictures, their statuses without much bother. You can still do it but it's not as easy. Anyway, most of your contacts you don't even communicate with, but who cares, you like to keep tabs on them when they change their pictures or when they were last online. Why didn't your victim respond to your message and they've been online for the last five minutes?! Also, you like to judge contacts when they change pictures with extreme regularity, but how would you even know what they were doing if you were not stalking them with the same regularity that they take new selfies?

It goes without saying that stalking has rapidly become the crime that all are guilty of or have dabbled in. However, unless you've shot yourself in the foot by slipping up with information you haven't been told directly to one of your victims, ie getting caught stalking without restraint who will ever know your dirty little secret?

Demola, TCC