Internet ‘trolling’ is the anti-social act of causing of conflict and controversy online. Trolls are given the name from the mythical creature troll, due to their general unpleasantness and hatred upon people and society. They are pests on the internet which are hard to stop. They resort to racism, sexism and general violent threats to other internet users.
I have no personal problems with trolls or cyber bulling but that is most likely because I told really spread my opinions much on social media or post videos on YouTube or write controversial blog posts for an audience. It the fact of life that not everyone will like each other, same as in real life, they’re going to be people who disagree with your views or just general dislike of you. The Internet acts as a platform like the saying “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. It is the same concept with trolling as people have easier access to attack someone, and can do it behind a computer.
That same argument is relevant when studying the school girl Hannah Smith who committed suicide late last year due to constant online bulling from trolls. The trolls taunted and harassed with violent comments telling her to kill herself which she ultimately ended up doing.
The question I ask is who to blame?
Do we blame these social media sites for allowing such horrible things to take place? Do we blame the trolls for constantly making her life hell and spreading hate? Do we blame her for not taking action and shutting her networking sites off and report these trolls?
I guess we need to know that as soon as we participate in a social network we will come across trolls that want to put us down and ultimately we cannot stop them or change them. We need to be careful and know when to leave it alone.
Thomas Pearson 