Why are trolls online so mean?

[unsunghero]

Last work anecdote: a long time ago we had a young adult guy who was deemed SMI status (serious mental illness) which people typically only got for psychotic disorders, who was having delusions of persecution and paranoid

We heard from his case manager he had just set his car on fire, ruining it. We were transporting him to a psych hospital and could tell he was symptomatic and becoming more escalated in the back. What made it worse was we were stuck in gridlock traffic for 30 mins longer than the drive should have taken. And I had to piss the worst I ever had to in my life. I couldn’t just jump out to pee on the freeway in front of a client, even if he was psychotic

So when we finally got to the psych hospital I was almost running in to avoid pissing my pants. And as I’m zipping in, I see out of the corner of my eye that the client has immediately upon exiting the vehicle put his $700 iphone on the ground and began to smash it with a rock. I remember wincing and thinking “man the car and now the phone, you are going to regret that once we get you mentally stable, that sucks man”

When I came out of the bathroom there was the client holding the rock like a weapon with police in front of him tasers out. They and us talked him into putting the rock down and going in voluntarily. He was saying that assassins had been tracking his phone and were coming to kill him

Afterwards my female partner was angry at me for days. She was like “you abandoned me with a psychotic hostile client”, and I bought her lunch and apologized every way I could because she was entirely in the right. I just told her I couldn’t piss my pants at work. She eventually forgave me

Moral of the story is sometimes psychotic people will break their own electronics on purpose too

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by unsunghero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Last work anecdote: a long time ago we had a young adult guy who was deemed SMI status (serious mental illness) which people typically only got for psychotic disorders, who was having delusions of persecution and paranoid

We heard from his case manager he had just set his car on fire, ruining it. We were transporting him to a psych hospital and could tell he was symptomatic and becoming more escalated in the back. What made it worse was we were stuck in gridlock traffic for 30 mins longer than the drive should have taken. And I had to piss the worst I ever had to in my life. I couldn’t just jump out to pee on the freeway in front of a client, even if he was psychotic

So when we finally got to the psych hospital I was almost running in to avoid pissing my pants. And as I’m zipping in, I see out of the corner of my eye that the client has immediately upon exiting the vehicle put his $700 iphone on the ground and began to smash it with a rock. I remember wincing and thinking “man the car and now the phone, you are going to regret that once we get you mentally stable, that sucks man”

When I came out of the bathroom there was the client holding the rock like a weapon with police in front of him tasers out. They and us talked him into putting the rock down and going in voluntarily. He was saying that assassins had been tracking his phone and were coming to kill him

Afterwards my female partner was angry at me for days. She was like “you abandoned me with a psychotic hostile client”, and I bought her lunch and apologized every way I could because she was entirely in the right. I just told her I couldn’t piss my pants at work. She eventually forgave me

Moral of the story is sometimes psychotic people will break their own electronics on purpose too

Thank you for sharing. This is how the typical online troll behaves in public.

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by Sadre Spinegnawer [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Agree on thinking you can't diagnose a particular individual case w/o having an M.D. b/c this is psychiatric, not just psychological trouble we are talking about here, correct?

Actually rewiring the brain.

I still want to talk about dissociation b/c the structural parameters are there. People undergo or experience highly disordered states all the time but do not notice them as such, b/c they return back to normal, or otherwise are functionally identical.

This is a good point to clarify the idea that people talk about when they talk about "structural" vs. actual. It's the same as the distinction between potential vs actual, but structure in this context, means the more or less closed system in question and what it does or does not incentivize or introduce.

Games like Everquest were and still are potentiator machines, structures, that might very well create or reward "aberrant" behavior and personality.

But I would go one step further and say, the nature of the activity itself likely creates transient psychotic events in otherwise normal people.

Temporary psychotic episodes that can be quite severe due to the trio of bad factors (anonymity, disinhibition, dissociation) at play, can get pretty intense in the internets era. And at scale!

Absolutely. Also, there's compelling arguments from the 90s suggesting violent video games lead to violent behavior.

[Jimjam]

I'm actually just formulating and synthesising some ideas on the impact of violent media, particularly on aggression in adolescents. I'm glad you made this post!

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Absolutely. Also, there's compelling arguments from the 90s suggesting violent video games lead to violent behavior.

This is true, consumption of violent media often precedes aggression.

A big part of the reason for this is the underlying callous unemotional traits that predict a person predisposed to becoming aggressive also predict a preference for violent media. Basically, in these instances, it isn't the media causing the behaviour, rather the underlying cause of violent media consumption and aggressive behaviour is the same.

Obviously it is more complex than that, especially as most people don't score that highly on CU traits. Another influence on a/v behaviour is social norms, so in a society where a/v is perceived as being an acceptable way to resolve conflicts or achieve goals, people are more likely to behave that way. If a person is watching a bunch of violent movies or games (even just 'wholesome' super hero movies are often very violent, and the violence is idealised) then that could be integrated into their norms and influence their behaviour to become more violent.

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm actually just formulating and synthesising some ideas on the impact of violent media, particularly on aggression in adolescents. I'm glad you made this post!



This is true, consumption of violent media often precedes aggression.

A big part of the reason for this is the underlying callous unemotional traits that predict a person predisposed to becoming aggressive also predict a preference for violent media. Basically, in these instances, it isn't the media causing the behaviour, rather the underlying cause of violent media consumption and aggressive behaviour is the same.

Obviously it is more complex than that, especially as most people don't score that highly on CU traits. Another influence on a/v behaviour is social norms, so in a society where a/v is perceived as being an acceptable way to resolve conflicts or achieve goals, people are more likely to behave that way. If a person is watching a bunch of violent movies or games (even just 'wholesome' super hero movies are often very violent, and the violence is idealised) then that could be integrated into their norms and influence their behaviour to become more violent.

But trolling online, as Cecily pointed out earlier, is different than violent RL behavior

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm actually just formulating and synthesising some ideas on the impact of violent media, particularly on aggression in adolescents. I'm glad you made this post!

Thanks! I'm being super sarcastic. Maybe if you slap some rating stickers on game boxes it will help things.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

Originally Posted by magnetaress [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you can't be a good person online you are basically incapable of being truly moral.

That's a classic philosophical problem. It's really a killer question. Your claim reminds me of how Plato sets up the plot of The Republic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges

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(BTW, The Lord of The Rings trilogy is in part Tolkien's retort to this claim. In his telling, such a kind of rind ring must be destroyed. Socrates was wrong: no one can resist the temptation. Not even reason (Gandalf) or innocence (Hobbits) can withstand its predicament.)

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks! I'm being super sarcastic. Maybe if you slap some rating stickers on game boxes it will help things.

Ya, I was detecting that before Jim apparently did

Without having done any research into it, it seems like an argument could be made for de-sensitization towards physical violence

But anything further would run into a correlation not causation type concern would be my guess. Are the video games really motivating someone towards violence or does someone who already had that predisposition naturally tend to gravitate towards violent video games

[Cecily]

That's 100% what the field is. It's chasing correlations and connecting bullshit with bullshit jargon in an attempt to pathologize normal human behavior. If you stick enough bullshit together, it sounds pretty darn profound. People behave differently in a social setting that has no consequences. Shocker.

[magnetaress]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm actually just formulating and synthesising some ideas on the impact of violent media, particularly on aggression in adolescents. I'm glad you made this post!



This is true, consumption of violent media often precedes aggression.

A big part of the reason for this is the underlying callous unemotional traits that predict a person predisposed to becoming aggressive also predict a preference for violent media. Basically, in these instances, it isn't the media causing the behaviour, rather the underlying cause of violent media consumption and aggressive behaviour is the same.

Obviously it is more complex than that, especially as most people don't score that highly on CU traits. Another influence on a/v behaviour is social norms, so in a society where a/v is perceived as being an acceptable way to resolve conflicts or achieve goals, people are more likely to behave that way. If a person is watching a bunch of violent movies or games (even just 'wholesome' super hero movies are often very violent, and the violence is idealised) then that could be integrated into their norms and influence their behaviour to become more violent.

I have a streak of ultraviolent dissasociativeness where i do like switch personalities and go completely cold numb to a lot of stuff but then i'm usually able to keep it together during high stress situations and am in better control - that persona just lacks complete empathy for anyone and anything so its a v dangerous persona to be around if you are a stupid idiot

i think that coupled with violent videogames can be pretty bad when I play (and i dont often) play a very up close and personally violent video game or engage in a very physical sport even it kinda triggers that persona some and reinfroces it, doing that every day for months could have led to a few episodes in my life where i was just like "in terminator mode".

Anyway ppl are idiots to think that something or anything is completely harmless and perfectly fine

not in this world


in this world everything is dangreous as fuck moderation is the only key and only answer and Glory to G-d and G-d's love of free will.

(fuck that baby i'm destined for the lake of fyre, bring on the tyranny)