I revisited my cringe teenage videos and realised I’m lucky not to be young online today

When I was 14 I filmed myself with my friends Jessie and Emma singing Bohemian Rhapsody and uploaded the clip to YouTube on 19 September 2006, titling it Bohemian Crap-sody. The comments began as a drizzle and became a downpour: slurs, rape and death threats, and a favourite blunt message that “They must die!” The video ultimately accumulated 48,526 views.

The viral moment had zero effect on my everyday life. No one at school saw it, and because the internet then felt like a place you visited rather than lived in, I retained the power to erase it. Later viral cases were different: Rebecca Black faced intense bullying and police involvement, and Lauren Willey was unable to return to school and later developed an eating disorder she partly attributes to hate comments.

Social media has evolved so far that the UK government now wants to ban under-16s from the platforms, and more than half of Gen Z adults say they avoid expressing themselves online for fear of being judged.

UK

youtube, bohemian rhapsody, teenage videos, viral video, online harassment, death threats, hate comments, rebecca black, lauren willey, under-16s