“You can't even think about making a mistake"
Actress Mawra Hocane opened up about how there was a time that she was so disheartened by the social media trolls that she left Pakistan and almost quit her career.
In an interview with Mira Sethi, Mawra explained that trolls did not spare her whenever she said something wrong.
Mawra said that it led her to become afraid, and then that fear never left.
She recalled: “I didn’t know a thing about Instagram, even though people credit me for being one of the first celebs to join it and start some sort of trend.
“For me, it was just something I just enjoyed using. I was 19 when I started working. So I’d take pictures on the sets of my projects and upload them.”
Mawra explained that her co-stars would often ask what she was doing, to which she would tell them about “this app called Instagram”.
When asked about how toxic social media can be considering the importance of it today, Mawra replied:
“Like I said, when I had started working, Instagram was just another app. But as time went on, people started asking me to use this ‘platform’ to educate other actors and people.
“And I would tell them, social media, without us, is nothing.”
“I didn’t want to leave any wrong impression in the minds of people younger than me. And even if I stop working today, my social media account has no meaning.”
“I just feel the more you work, the more you can use your social media to project that work.
“And if you want to raise an important issue then you can raise it there, but if you have no voice, and no purpose, social media is useless.”
Mawra explained that she received criticism on social media in the past and still does sometimes.
“I am getting used to it now, but six years ago it was very difficult. Like, if I am giving an interview right now, it is possible that I may say something wrong.
“But I realised five years ago that anything wrong that comes out of your mouth is no longer wrong when it reaches social media, it becomes a sin.”
She went on to say that the negativity became so bad, she left for Sydney and considered quitting acting.
“You can’t even think about making a mistake, because you have been placed on a pedestal where you can’t say anything wrong.
“So the first time this hit me I was like, I want to stop using it. I want to stop acting and I just want to leave.”
“And I actually went to Sydney and told my parents ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’.”
Mawra Hocane said at the time, she did not know the difference between the hate and constructive criticism. She even revealed a time where she received death threats.
“I told my parents people here want to kill me because I said something wrong. And even today I don’t want to defend myself, I am scared of it.
“I say ‘you know what? I am wrong! But are you really going to take my life for it’?”
The actress concluded that her fear has never left.
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