Social Media Trolls - don’t just live under the bridge! They’re everywhere!
Take a look at this guy - are all trolls this damned cute!
I’m afraid not, this little guy could easily spend some time on my desk at work, help me to reminisce the old days when these lil guys were so popular and represented fun! Twirling their hair, stick them on the end of pencils. Those were the days...
Even the trolls of the fantasy world tend to live under bridges... isn’t that what we were told? We knew what they looked like, some even had a name! They certainly didn’t have keyboards to hide behind nor have the have the access that individuals do now..
Back to the reality of today.
The more ugly of the variety, live behind their keyboards and do their work in anonymity! These are the absolute worst kind!
According to AsapSCIENCE 5.6% of individuals who like to chat and communicate online, identify themselves as “trolls”. So what makes an internet troll?
Are there any traits that are common?
Yes, say AsapSCIENCE, the study conducted by scientists of the 1200 internet users they interviewed reflected common traits which they’ve colloquially called “dark traits” (AsapSCIENCE, 2016).
These horrible individuals have high levels of Psychopathy, Narcissism and Sadism (AsapSCIENCE, 2016)!
What a combination eh?
So how do these 3 traits reflect in an individual... as outlined by Keith Campbell who states that a narcissist is an individual who shows elevated and sometimes detrimental self-involvement behaviour (Campbell, 2016). Furthermore, Sadism can be defined as one creating pain without pity on others as outlined by SDictionary in their video created in 2015. In a nutshell, internet trolls are attention-seeking individuals who relish the pleasure of hurting others!
WOW.
Just the type of person you’d love to bring home to meet your family right?
Or am I just being too harsh? We enjoy watching a good fight on TV? Does that make us evil? According to AsapSCIENCE it does not. Would you believe there is a condition called “everyday sadism” - which covers exactly this! We like a “little pleasure” in someone else’s pain? Just a little? (AsapSCIENCE, 2016)
Would this just mean that ultimately, we’re all trolls in some way? No, I believe as AsapSCIENCE do, that a combination of high levels of Sadism, coupled with argumentative and disruptive behaviour (anti-social behaviour) lead to a “successful troll” (AsapSCIENCE, 2016).
So how do we minimise the impact on us from internet trolls?
Simple, according to AsapSCIENCE, “negative feedback only encourages continued negative comments” (AsapSCIENCE, 2016). They suggest we simply ignore them which will reduce their efforts.
This would ring true I feel as the characteristics of the sadist and narcissist feed off continued communication. Remove it, and the “fun is gone”. Remember, the troll wants to disrupt you and hurt you.
Having been trolled once or twice recently on Facebook, and being awfully hurt, I simply de-friended / blocked the individual as my means of action....
Have you been trolled? What platfom was it in? What did you do to shut it down? Do you think “ignoring” fixes or reduces it?
Would love to hear your thoughts...
References:
‘TROLL-THUMB-1′ [image], viewed 29 April 2018 <http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/it-s-official-men-who-troll-women-are-losers-literally-61865>
AsapSCIENCE 2016, The Science of Internet Trolls, Jan 17, viewed 29 April 2018, <https://youtu.be/6Zxy_dScjsM>
SDictionary 2015, Sadism, Apr 14, viewed 29 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InHNTiRdjlY>
W. Keith Campbell 2016, The psychology of narcissism, Feb 23, viewed 29 April 2018 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJLy3hX1E8 >
