Boy bullied for love of books gets big surprise on Instagram

By Trevor Mogg Published April 25, 2023

Schoolboy Callum Manning recently took to Instagram to share reviews of books that he loved reading.

Recommended Videos

But when students at his school found out, they started mocking his Instagram site in an online group chat, which they then invited him to join so that he could see their nasty comments.

The 13-year-old bookworm from South Shields in the north of England said he felt “devastated” by the bullying. But the situation took an unexpected turn when his sister posted a tweet highlighting the insulting behavior toward her little brother.

“Can’t believe how awful kids are,” she wrote, at the same time explaining how others at the school had created a group chat making fun of Callum’s initiative before adding him in.

Thanks to a bunch of retweets, the story reached a wider audience, including authors, publishers, and bookstores, causing Callum’s follower count to surge to more than 200,000 people from just 40 a couple of days earlier. Plenty were offering to send him free books for review, too.

Commenting on the abuse from some of his fellow students, Callum told the Associated Press, “People saw it and people just thought, ‘It’s not right,’ because it isn’t. Then I started getting loads of comments from everyone showing their support.” The book fan added: “I just think it’s really nice that there are still people in the world who are nice.”

Callum’s mom described her son as “a very, very clever kid,” adding that he reads “everything and anything,” including titles that you wouldn’t necessarily expect a 13-year-old student to go for, such as Crime and Punishment.

Callum’s reviews are usually short and to the point, as befits a social media platform. His recent take on Pride and Prejudice, for example, says: “It’s great I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was but it’s great for you guys who like romance/old English literature.” Some of the comments on his Instagram account are asking Callum to set up an Amazon wish list so they can send him books, while others are requesting particular titles for review.

Suffice to say it appears to have worked out really well for Callum, whose Instagram profile reads: “Yo, it’s me Cal and I LOVE books.”

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Computing

Future MacBooks could get a big performance boost if new Apple patent pans out

Fortnite running on a Macbook M1.

Your next MacBook Pro powered by a future version of Apple's in-house-designed M1 processor could be even faster and last longer on a charge if Apple's new hybrid memory patent, which combines high-density, low-bandwidth memory with low-density, high-bandwidth memory, becomes a reality. Rather than share memory between the CPU and GPU on Apple's current system on a chip (SoC) design -- which has its own set of limitations -- Apple proposes in its patent, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, that the use of a hybrid system would be more efficient and deliver additional performance.

"Providing a memory system with two types of DRAM (e.g., one high-density and one low-latency, high-bandwidth) may permit a highly energy-efficient operation, which may make the memory system suitable for portable devices and other devices where energy efficiency and performance per unit of energy expended are key attributes," the company said in its filing.

Social Media

Why Instagram’s dreaded Shopping tab is a big win for small businesses

instagram shopping icon

Now that everyone’s had a few weeks to get familiar with Instagram’s shopping tab, it’s time we shed our knee-jerk reactions and take a look at the bigger picture. While no company with a popular app can roll out a significant UI redesign without expecting a certain amount of criticism, the controversy around this particular change has been rightly and uniquely boisterous. Where our notifications tab long resided, an indiscreet shopping bag has made a fresh roost. More than a minor annoyance (and an exercise in muscle memory retraining), this seemingly shallow, money-fueled addition is a big win for small businesses that operate online.

Without parroting what we’ve all heard, it should be universally understood by now that online commerce is more important than ever to businesses of all sizes. And, while this may not apply to everyone, shopping while mindlessly browsing social media has become a kind of therapy we just can’t get anywhere else at present. Even for those who don’t check out in-app, data shows a marked percentage of our purchasing decisions are influenced by ads on Facebook-owned Instagram. Furthermore, Facebook Marketplace has become an absolute juggernaut in e-commerce, effortlessly challenging even internet mainstays like eBay.

News

Instagram gets smarter about copyrighted music in live videos

We’ve already heard how Facebook Live usage has soared during the coronavirus crisis, and it appears Instagram Live is experiencing a similar uptick in use.

But Instagram said this week that increased interest in the livestreaming feature has created confusion in its community when it comes to including artists' music.