Trolls thrive in social media
We are getting meaner.
Tuesday’s news story of a child bullied on social media exemplifies an increasingly common phenomenon. Cowardly as it is to hide behind screens, the removal of a face-to-face element makes incivility, meanness, and yes, aggression far too easy. And thus more prevalent.
So prevalent that we need to face a disturbing fact: Bullies can no longer be considered society’s outliers. With increasing social use of the Internet, more “regular” people are exhibiting mean behavior on some level. And with more acceptance.
A 2014 Pew Research survey found that 70 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds had been harassed online, and 26 percent of young women had been stalked online.
Consequences for perpetrators of online aggression are rare, as the Web makes a great hiding place. The rest of us are not without power; we could collectively turn such verbiage into the mark of a social pariah, even before it rises to bullying. Yet we haven’t. Isn’t humanity supposed to improve with time and experience?
Self-imposed limits are dissipating in cyberspace. Online anonymity, or at minimum, online separation from the “real” person being targeted (for insults, hate speech, threats, defamation — or at least irresponsible accusation, and oppression) makes unkind expressions easier. So they’re more readily committed by people who have never dared the same behavior in person.
Psychologists call this the online disinhibition effect, and it’s changing us. The cover story by Joel Stein in the Aug. 18 issue of Time magazine packs a wallop, illustrating the phenomenon with examples, data, and disturbing testimony from perpetrators of rude and aggressive online behavior.
“Trolls are turning social media and comment boards into a giant locker room in a teen movie, with towel-snapping racial epithets and misogyny,” writes Stein, who says the pressure on victims and observers to join in or just laugh it off is part of the problem.
Similar to cyberbullying, “trolling” is Internet slang for someone who intentionally starts arguments or hurts others by posting inflammatory remarks, with or without truthful element. The target may or may not be known to the troll. Remarks may be on Facebook or Twitter, blogs, or site comments, and take many forms, such as name calling, humiliation, or personal insults.
According to PyschologyToday.com, a troll’s purposes include:
• Entertainment
• To be offensive and argumentative
• To derive pleasure from annoying, upsetting, or hurting another
• To get attention
• To feel powerful
Like trolls, cyberbullies feel empowered by their hurtful behavior. However, cyberbullies may or may not seek more public attention with their behavior. Cyberbullying is repeated harassment or threats designed to humiliate, intimidate, scare, or upset the victim.
Either way, the advice for trolling and cyberbullying victims is the same: Don’t reward them with attention by responding. Instead, report the behavior.
This isn’t just a respond-if-you’re-targeted situation. We have a much bigger problem as a society: How to address the increasing incivility, the dissipation of compassion, generated by online disinhibition. It spills over as a lack of courtesy offline too, a decrease in common concern for fellow man that affects everyday interactions.
Maybe we a need a “just say no” campaign. Social media’s fast pace and broad reach can be a plus, if we collectively decide to create an online code of ethics. The karma generated could quickly spin a safer worldwide web.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who misses courtesy, and is losing hope. She can be reached with civility at Sholeh@cdapress.com.