Pranksters pull seemingly innocent tricks on victims with the intention of it being humorous, but it can end up anything but funny to those who are in the line of fire.
Pranks come in all types of forms, from something such as changing the time on an alarm clock ahead an hour to make somebody believe they’re late for work, or to the extreme of staging an abduction on a friend. Regardless of the situation, pranks are just not funny and end up being so much more harmful and detrimental to people’s lives.
Pranksters may think what they are doing is harmless, and is all in fun and games, but pranks can be a form of emotional or psychological abuse depending on the extent and how often they are being played.
According to Psychology Today, “Pranks may qualify as a form of emotional or psychological abuse. Pranks can be how a person attempts to gain control over their partner, family members or friends. Pranks can invoke fear and give the perpetrator a feeling of power over others.”
Sometimes a prank just goes too far without someone realizing the extent of what it’s going to do to the person who is being pranked. Being pranked can induce anxiety or fear in someone due to a sudden unexpected scare or situation, and it can induce panic and increase heart rate which can be dangerous for some.
Humor is also subjective, so what is funny to one person might be extremely upsetting for someone else.
A piece published in the National Post said, “But beyond being unfunny or predictable, many other pranks are just plain weird; totally lacking even an attempt at what we know to be humour.”
A prankster may not know what has happened to their victims in the past so the chances of encountering someone who may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may happen and is not in the best interest for anybody involved. You don’t know how the person is going to handle it, and it may even resurface some past trauma that they have worked on.
Majority of the time a prankster doesn’t realize the repercussions of a prank let alone the legal repercussions of what their prank may have in store for them especially if the prank itself led to injury.
According to Circeo Law Firm, “Pranks can be considered harassment or assault if they cause someone physical or emotional harm. Even if a prank doesn’t cause harm, it can still be considered a crime involving vandalism.”
Pranks are supposed to be a joke and funny but at the end of the day it’s more harmful than it is humor. People who are affected by the prank often are left humiliated with loss of trust toward the person who played it.