In the modern world, the telephone, mobile or landline, has long ceased to be only a means of communication with relatives and friends. It is actively used by banks for active campaigning of clients, polls are regularly conducted. In addition, it remains a complete mystery where employees of various companies and firms that issue loans and loans in the shortest possible time with a minimum of documents get our phone numbers from.
The telephone has become an effective means of advertising and marketing. But unfortunately, this device is also used for the purpose of drawing. This does not mean congratulating relatives on the holiday with the voice of, for example, the president, but a real test of nerves.
Are pranksters child's play or a method of provocation?
Many people will probably remember cases from childhood when they played with the phone, dialed a familiar number and asked to call Masha or Tanya, although they knew that such people did not live there. It can be called harmlesschildish pampering. With regards to pranksters, their behavior can hardly be called child's play, first of all, because they are no longer schoolchildren. These people call for a specific purpose - to bring the object of the prank call to a state where he ceases to control his words, turns to shouting, obscene language, and sometimes even threats, and then publish the recorded conversation on the Internet to the delight of many. Victims of a prank succumb to provocation and, of course, regret it later.
Prank call: who becomes its target
If you are a very calm person and even a bit of a bore, the chance that pranksters will call you is minimal. The objects of the draw are, as a rule, emotional, rude people. They are easy to piss off and cause vivid emotions. Elderly people also become victims of the prank.
Russian pranksters do not deprive even the police and other government agencies of their attention. And the most favorite characters to bully are famous people and stars.
Prank pranksters: genres and varieties
Telephone hooliganism in the standard pattern usually begins with phrases and questions, such as "How to get to the library" or "Let's rock it." As a result, the victim, driven to rage, turns off with curses. But not all telephone pranks are aimed at bringing to an extreme nervous state. There are several types of pranks.
Hard Prank
The most violent genre is called hard prank. In this case, it is the hysteria that becomes the culminationconversation. Cursing and obscene words are often used. When the victim realizes that she has become the object of a prank, she turns to threats, warning that she will figure out the hooligans with the help of law enforcement or other equally impressive people.
Light prank
The opposite of this genre is light prank. If you got a call for this purpose, you are definitely lucky. They plan to cheer you up and just laugh together, chat on intimate topics. No malice.
Radio Prank
There are times when radio stations are the object of the draw. In this case, we are talking about a live call to the presenters. Often used obscene language. It's called radio prank. The well-known Ekho Moskvy wave faced such pranks.
Technoprank
This variety is different from the others. Phone hooligans, pranksters in this case do not participate in the conversation. Instead, a pre-prepared recording is used. It can be a clipping from a computer game or other prank, phrases from films, or just sounds. The purpose of this prank is to keep the conversation going. Typically, the victim is unaware that they are not talking to a human. Sometimes pranks use the words of the prank target. Even so, many will not recognize their own speech in the recording.
Prank in the form of a conference
The draw of such a plan has appeared relatively recently. There are already two victims, and they communicate with each other. First, a call is made to one person, it is brought to the desired state, and then it is connected to the second participant. Bothcharacters are sure that the prankster is calling them. The main essence of the conversation is finding out who is calling whom. This is the most unpredictable variety, since the duration and format of the conversation cannot be controlled by hooligans. The conversation usually ends when someone hangs up.
Vivid examples of prank
To understand what a prank is, it is not necessary to become a victim of it. It is enough to look at the well-known cartoon about the Simpson family. Bart Simpson appears here as a typical prankster. Unfortunately, this character is loved by children, so childish phone hooliganism is only gaining momentum.
Evgeny Volnov is a famous person on the Internet. His direction is trolling ordinary people. His pranks are created in a Western manner. It's hard to call them a hard prank. He participated in many projects, including trolling the program "Wait for me" on Channel One. The best pranks are posted on social networks and on his official website.
He also created the character Nastenka. Nastenka calls to invite her on a date. And many representatives of the stronger sex agree, for which they become the heroes of commercials that are actively viewed and listened to on the Internet. Despite the strange voice, the heroine has a lot of fans who follow her adventures. Volnov himself voices it, his voice is changed with the help of a special program. Phone hooligans call Nastenka the goddess of pranks.
The famous character of the prank - "Grandma ATS"
The objects of banter were both stars and ordinary people. A long-time member of the prank - "Grandma ATS". In March 1988, a high school student in the city of Kemerovo called the ATS to find out if there was a debt on the phone, but dialed the wrong number. An older woman answered. To the question: “Is this an ATS?” reacted with selective abuse. High school student Roman, together with a friend, recorded several conversations with this woman, who received the nickname "Grandma ATS." Friends managed to make 7 entries, but then the phone number was lost. Cassettes with her speech passed from hand to hand, and as a result, the tracks were posted on the Internet.
How not to become a victim of pranksters
First of all, you need to install caller ID. This measure will free you from inexperienced telephone criminals. Trolling professionals use VoIP cards.
So, the masters of their craft still got through to you. In this case, you need to follow a few rules:
- Reaction should be calm and unruffled.
- Don't continue the conversation, just hang up, the pranksters will soon get tired of calling you.
- Do not show your emotions, do not swear, try not to use obscene language.
Hooligans expect bright emotions from you, if you do not give them to them, then you will cease to be an interesting character for them.
It must be taken into account that the numbers of especially intractable victims are distributed among the pranksters. And in this case, you become the object of not one, but several telephone criminals.
The secret from Ksenia Borodina: how to deal with pranksters
As an example of the correct reaction, we can cite the case of the host of the TV project "Dom 2" Ksenia Borodina. The callers introduced themselves as Woland and Koroviev, characters from The Master and Margarita. Mystical characters tried to convince her that her cat was possessed by demons. Ksyusha decided that this was a prank of her friends, reacted with humor. She didn’t try to be rude to them, she just played along, not giving vent to emotions. She noted that the characters performed their roles convincingly and in an original way. All day the presenter asked her friends who they were, Woland or Koroviev. Nobody confessed. As it turned out later, they were professional pranksters, which surprised Ksenia very much.
She indicated her attitude to such an occupation as clearly negative. Each person has his own personal life, and no one has the right to cross boundaries. For one funny original case, there are hundreds of stupid harassment, the purpose of which is to bring a person to an extreme state. As a rule, they do not call to cheer you up. There are obscene proposals, threats, declarations of love. For her, pranksters are sick people who have nowhere to put their energy.
Legal Pranks
In Russia, pranksters are hooligans who are fought by the police, guided by the articles of the Criminal Code. An offense of such a plan is equated to insulting harassment of citizens. It's called petty bullying. It is very difficult to collect evidence in such a case, therefore, to punishpranksters, as a rule, do not work.
As for Europe, in this part of the world it is also recognized as a violation of the law, a form of terror. Violators of the order receive an impressive punishment, a fine or criminal prosecution. Therefore, there are few people who want to call for the purpose of drawing.
Psychologists on prank calls
To many people, it doesn't seem funny to be the target of trolling. Often bullying does not go unnoticed for the elderly and sick participants. Psychologists advise to look at this situation from the other side. Annoying pranksters are not quite full-fledged individuals. Surely, they are not too loved by others and are not taken seriously by them. There is an inferiority complex. Provoking others anonymously is a way of self-realization. In fact, these are insecure people or troubled teenagers.
Conclusion
Prank is a phenomenon that is very popular in the modern world. It can be treated differently, bad, good, neutral, but this does not make its manifestations less. In my opinion, the most beneficial approach is to be taken with humor, not taken seriously, and play along whenever possible. If this does not work out, then remember the words of psychologists about the inferiority complex of pranksters and try to feel sorry for them. The most important thing is to keep your nerves and not pay attention to these pranks.
