Coping with Dystopia: Coping with Trolling
August 10, 2022 — COPING WITH DYSTOPIA
Feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world? Does it seem like society is fraying at the edges? Our new podcast series, Coping with Dystopia, is here to help!
We speak with people who have experienced it all and come out the other side. These are thoughtful, real-world talks that offer practical and philosophical ways to deal with the chaos. And maybe there’s even the odd glimpse of humour and happiness. Coping with Dystopia is the podcast the world needs right now.
In the first episode of this new podcast series we are coping with online trolling. Online trolling can be defined as malicious online behaviour actively put in action to provoke, upset, and harm people through hate speech, violent messages, and death threats. We were joined by Ginger Gorman, an Australian investigative journalist, and author of ‘Troll Hunting’. Ginger Gorman has experienced online hate first-hand as a victim of online trolling.
Ginger explained that once the troll attacks quietened, she found herself less fearful for her safety and her family’s one, and more curious to understand who these trolls were. Ginger built a relationship with one of them to gain this understanding. She found how dangerous this person was, discovering they were not only involved in cyber-hate, but also in real-life crimes. Psychopathy, machiavellism, narcissism, and sadism are all traits of online trolls. Sadism has the strongest correlation, meaning that by upsetting their victims, trolls take pleasure from it. Gorman explained how these personality traits were perfectly profiling the troll she met in real life. Among the victims, online trolling can be associated with distress, self-harm, and sometimes, even suicide.
It is clear that online actions have offline consequences. To help us feel less powerless in front of this complicated phenomenon, Ginger gave us five practical solutions to tackle online trolling.
1. Get your psychological armour on
Forewarned is forewarned, as the saying goes. Just knowing you may encounter cyberhate is helpful. And if you do end up getting trolled, keep in mind trolls are looking for your weakest point. It feels personal – but in fact it isn't. To them, it's business. They are just trying to get at you any way they can. Be self-aware and take a mental note if the trolling is causing you to lose productivity or making you stressed. To help unravel the anxiety, ask yourself questions such as: is dwelling on the situation improving my life? Why am I still thinking about it? What could I be doing instead?
2. If you’re experiencing trolling and it’s affecting your mental health and ability to function in daily life, reach out to your offline support network.
If you need support, reach out to your friends and family for support in the offline world. Debrief and get the stress off your chest.
3. Use the report/block/mute buttons. Turn notifications off at night.
Social media platforms have been notoriously lax and indifferent when it comes to dealing with cyberhate. However, the report/block/mute buttons exist for a reason. Use them. The "mute" button on Twitter is my favourite because the trolls effectively shout into the ether. (I'm not suggesting for a moment this is a total solution. It's just one tool and it's of limited effect, especially when a tsunami of hate is coming your way.)
It's not realistic to stay off the Internet. However, you can turn off notifications for different apps – like Twitter and Facebook – at night. You can do this on all smartphones. It means that while you're in your bedroom trying to relax, you won't be imbibing torrents of hate. For this reason, some people choose to keep devices out of their bedroom altogether.
4. Consider reporting to police (with the caveat police around the world are really struggling to deal with this issue)
Report to police if you are getting credible threats of harm and the trolling is sustained/you feel threatened and concerned for your safety or your family’s safety. Screenshot and document the cyberhate.
5. Be a good bystander (also known as an upstander!)
Show your support to trolling victims by becoming an upstander:
Send private messages to cyberhate targets to show support
Start or reclaim a hashtag - flooding the internet with positive messages can be beneficial
Amplify the victims' voice by re-tweeting their posts
You can check out Ginger’s article for more on becoming an upstander, and listen to the full podcast below.
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