Why are trolls online so mean?

[Warco]

Oh boy, now you've done it!

[Cecily]

It's even reduced to a fucking cute pop psych sound byte click bait title. Why are trolls online so gosh darn mean? This isn't benefiting society. It's dumbing it down. It's providing pseudo-intellectual entertainment in pop psych journals / magazines for those among us still able to read words with funny pictures.

[aussenseiter]

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

It's even reduced to a fucking cute pop psych sound byte click bait title. Why are trolls online so gosh darn mean? This isn't benefiting society. It's dumbing it down. It's providing pseudo-intellectual entertainment in pop psych journals / magazines for those among us still able to read words with funny pictures.

It's a post-September world and I'm wearing bacon pants.

[unsunghero]

Jim’s a pretty nice dude, so I’ll say nice contribution, sir

I only had skimmed that explanation, but I’ll still defer to my simpler one that everyone already knows: anonymity makes monsters. The vast majority of the “trolls” online wouldn’t say the stuff to a stranger IRL

They likely do it because it entertains them, and some may think it entertains others. I don’t see it as all that different than an IRL bully: they want to get some kind of a reaction

[Cecily]

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

Jim’s a pretty nice dude, so I’ll say nice contribution, sir

I only had skimmed that explanation, but I’ll still defer to my simpler one that everyone already knows: anonymity makes monsters. The vast majority of the “trolls” online wouldn’t say the stuff to a stranger IRL

They likely do it because it entertains them, and some may think it entertains others. I don’t see it as all that different than an IRL bully: they want to get some kind of a reaction

You're conflating online trolling with IRL bullying. They really aren't the same thing. And bullshit the same people don't talk just as much shit IRL. Some people aren't pussies.

"Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception of an imbalance of physical or social power. This imbalance distinguishes bullying from conflict."

"In Internet slang, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, a newsgroup, forum, chat room, online video game, or blog, with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception."

[unsunghero]

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

You're conflating online trolling with IRL bullying. They really aren't the same thing. And bullshit the same people don't talk just as much shit IRL. Some people aren't pussies.

Not saying you were trolling before, but would you say to your colleagues in healthcare straight to their face that they are “low intelligence” if it were true?

Sure some do it IRL as well though, not denying that. I get it in my job I wouldn’t say all the time, but definitely sometimes. Usually from drunk people [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The rest I guess I agree with too. It’s hard to find an an apology that perfectly fits on the spot sometimes. But both are after a negative reaction

[Cecily]

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

Not saying you were trolling before, but would you say to your colleagues in healthcare straight to their face that they are “low intelligence” if it were true?

Sure some do it IRL as well though, not denying that. I get it in my job I wouldn’t say all the time, but definitely sometimes. Usually from drunk people [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The rest I guess I agree with too. It’s hard to find an an apology that perfectly fits on the spot sometimes. But both are after a negative reaction

When it comes down to it, trolling is mischief. And it serves a function in society where people are a little too pro-social. Too agreeable. Too unwilling to engage in conflict. There's huge echo-chambers online where people lose their own ego to the herd when comes to their own opinions. It's subtle and people don't always notice it happening. People like me like to fuck with people like them. Shake up their world view a little and give them opportunity to reassess why they feel that way. You're a shrink and a tool of the man to maintain social order, so naturally trolls kinda don't sit well with you. But it's important to agitate groups of people, because like water... they go fucking stagnant.

[unsunghero]

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

When it comes down to it, trolling is mischief. And it serves a function in society where people are a little too pro-social. Too agreeable. Too unwilling to engage in conflict. There's huge echo-chambers online where people lose their own ego to the herd when comes to their own opinions. It's subtle and people don't always notice it happening. People like me like to fuck with people like them. Shake up their world view a little and give them opportunity to reassess why they feel that way. You're a shrink and a tool of the man to maintain social order, so naturally trolls kinda don't sit well with you. But it's important to agitate groups of people, because like water... they go fucking stagnant.

Welllll, I work in BH but def not credentialed enough to call myself a shrink [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And I am def big on order and manners IRL, which is why that aspect of Japanese culture really resonates with me (although I am definitely not one of those…whatever the word is for huge fans of Japanese culture or anime)

But online, I can definitely engage in some “feud” type trolling too. Chortles and I used to go back and forth, and I even got into it with CD288 recently, which actually didn’t end that well for me due to him pulling out a very unexpected trump (meaning the term, not the person) card to my personal attacks [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don’t even have as good of a higher order thinking justification as you. I don’t tend to go after people, but when someone persistently goes at me, I take some sort of sick glee in thinking up creative ways to insult them back. And I assume that many people reading are entertained by the drama, even though many probably wouldn’t admit it

This is speaking for myself only obv

[Cecily]

I genuinely have no idea who you are. Please refrain from future low int, unfunny replies.

[Arvan]

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

There is a divergent discussion forming in the tank subforums exploring what encourages trolling. Rather that posting this information I have cobbled together there I’ll post it here.

 

The “online disinhibition effect” refers to the phenomenon of acting differently in online environments compared to face-to-face interactions. On the one hand, it may involve unusual acts of generosity and kindness or of sharing very personal things (e.g., secret fears, wishes, etc.) something called benign disinhibition. On the other hand, it may also involve visits to places that would never being explored in the real world (e.g., places of violence, crime, pornography, etc.) or acts of anger, harsh criticisms, rude language, hatred, or even threats (toxic disinhibition).

According to Suler (2004), at least six factors are involved in online disinhibition (whether benign or toxic) that intersect and interact with each other:

 

Dissociative anonymity (e.g., in online environment people can hide some or all of their identity so they may feel free to do or say whatever they want)
Invisibility (e.g., people cannot see each other, other people may not even know they are present at all, people do not have to worry about how others look or sound in response to what they say, etc.)
Asynchronicity (e.g., communication is asynchronous, people may experience this type of communication as “running away” after posting a hostile message, say mean things and not really worry about the consequences)
Solipsistic introjection (e.g., people feel the reading of posts or messages as a voice within their head)
Dissociative imagination (e.g., people may view online life as a kind of game with rules and norms that don’t apply to everyday life)
Minimization of status & authority (e.g., in online environments, everyone has an equal opportunity to voice him or herself, regardless of gender, race, wealth, or status so, people may be more willing to speak out or misbehave)

Of course, “the disinhibition effect” is not the only factor implicated in how people will behave in online environments. Individual differences and predispositions play important role. For example, personality traits or intensity of personal needs and feelings may play important role on how much an individual is susceptible to disinhibition.

Lowry et al (2016) reference various studies that state moral disengagement caused by online disinhibition results in a disregard for social morals. Indeed Liu et al (2022) refer to studies that show the link between online disinhibition and online antisocial behaviour.
Individuals who display callous and unemotional traits are also more at risk of becoming disinhibited online, leading to cyberbullying behaviour (Wright et al., 2019). Interestingly, those who experience trolling are more likely to engage in it themselves (March and Marrington, 2019, as cited in Liu et al., 2022).

There certainly is a cost benefit argument for engaging in online activity. The 'Be Kind' hashtag was widely shared by the same individuals who then continued to troll others. Perhaps there's a form of addiction / specific problematic internet use (David, 2001) to consider here?

The insight is that maybe those who have experienced trolling have contextualised it as part of 'the game' behind online interactions. As well as being a component of bullying, teasing can be a component of play. If interpreted as non-hostile in intent the teasing may be mutually enjoyable for both teaser and recipient (various studies cited by Eckert et al., 2020). This would explain why some people exposed to trolling online go on to be trolls themselves - they enjoyed being trolled, enjoy trolling and believe others will enjoy their trolling too. They may fail to perceive the trolling as being mean as they believe it a non-hostile joke.





References

Davis, R. A. (2001). A cognitive–behavioral model of pathological Internet use. Computers in Human Behavior, 17(2), 187–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-5632(00)00041-8

Eckert, J., Winkler, S. L., & Cartmill, E. A. (2020). Just kidding: the evolutionary roots of playful teasing. Biology Letters, 16(9), 20200370. https://10.1098/rsbl.2020.0370

Liu, M., Wu, B., Li, F., Wang, X., & Geng, F. (2022). Does mindfulness reduce trolling? The relationship between trait mindfulness and online trolling: The mediating role of anger rumination and the moderating role of online disinhibition. Journal of Affective Disorders, 301, 36-43. https://10.1016/j.jad.2022.01.023

Lowry, P. B., Zhang, J., Wang, C., & Siponen, M. (2016). Why Do Adults Engage in Cyberbullying on Social Media? An Integration of Online Disinhibition and Deindividuation Effects with the Social Structure and Social Learning Model. Information Systems Research, 27(4), 962-986. https://10.1287/isre.2016.0671

Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 7(3), 321-326.

Wright, M. F., Harper, B. D., & Wachs, S. (2019). The associations between cyberbullying and callous-unemotional traits among adolescents: The moderating effect of online disinhibition. Personality and Individual Differences, 140, 41-45. https://10.1016/j.paid.2018.04.001

TLDR trolling is all seen as a bit of a game by most involved as they aren’t able to perceive or empathise how they may be hurting others.

tbf i think furor threatens to punch people's teeth in and out of game.