Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brave teen talks on TV of troll hell
Josh, 19, tackles net abuse with Saturdays star
A TEENAGER who attempted suicide after years of online abuse is to feature on a Channel 5 documentary alongside celebrities who have also been trolled.
Joshua Hewitt, 19, was pushed to the brink by internet bullying that started when he moved to a Portadown secondary school aged 11.
He was just 14 when he was admitted to hospital in 2013 after trying to end his own life.
Now the brave Armagh man is hoping he can help others by speaking out about his experiences on television.
The award-winning bullying campaigner was contacted by the production company behind Celebrity Trolls: We’re Coming To Get You through Twitter in June last year.
But he admits he was surprised at being asked to take part in the show, hosted by The Saturdays’ Frankie Bridge and featuring troll tales from X-factor’s Nicola Mclean and Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington.
Josh explained: “I thought it sounded too good to be true.
“But they gave me the details and invited me to London for filming.”
His part was recorded in January. Josh added: “The aim is to show what is happening online and bring it into the public eye.
“Trolls can have an effect on mental health and make people scared to go out. I went into detail about getting bullied in school, death threats out of school and how I tried to take my own life.
“I spoke about what I felt from wanting to kill myself to the recovery stages as well.”
Even though Josh suffered for years at the hands of trolls, he said has come out the other end a stronger person – determined to show others there is light at the end of the tunnel.
He said: “I got picked on from first year in school but in third year it was criminal. I was in hospital for three or four days and then I went through child mental health services.
“I got a lot of help through that. When they knew the full scale of what I went through I felt better as I’d previously kept it to myself.
“Then there was recovery and the bullying died down.” But it hasn’t gone away completely as the Richhill teenager said he was sent a number of unsavoury messages online last year. Josh added: “If I had got that when I was 13 I would have been a lot more annoyed. He posts short films about his experience on his Youtube channel The Hewitt Collective and tweets from @ Hewittfilmsthc.
Josh said: “I hope the show wakes a few people up if they are trolls themselves.” And he urged anyone going through the same thing to “keep going”. He added: “Believe in yourself. It does get better.”
Tune in to Channel 5 at 10pm on Thursday to see Josh.
ARMAGH YESTERDAY