The Overabundance Of Toxicity & Trolls Online, That Absolutely No One Asked For

Social Media. Ah yes, with just the simple tap of a finger, you can access a wide variety of negativity, bitter individuals and energy vampires who wish to see you just as an unhappy as they are. Not exactly what you were expecting to read, huh? Don’t get me wrong, I can go on an absolute tangent about the onslaught of globalization and technological advancements, how far we have come in the contemporary age or even how amazing it is that we can connect with and share content with anyone, anywhere in the world with just the touch of a button. But that’s not what the focal point is today.

I know I cannot be the only one who has noticed the recent surge in negativity & toxicity online. The online social climate has manifested into a space that hosts low vibrational energy, spiteful individuals who are free to project without consequence of their actions as they continue to hide behind their anonymity. It’s easy to say, “just keep scrolling” or “ignore it” but when the collective is consistently exposed to this type of harmful content, whether conscious of it or not, it can have damaging repercussions for our mental.

It is an unfortunate reality that not much can be done in regards to dealing with these individuals. Through their anonymity they are shielded from any real consequence and get off, almost always, scot-free. This fact in itself alone acts as a substantial motivator for these types of personas.

“It is true that hiding behind a screen allows — sometimes maybe encourages — people to say and do things they wouldn’t in person. And the increase in nasty, offensive, and in certain cases clearly illegal, behavior online is a big problem which the tech platforms haven’t tackled enough.” -MP Jess Phillips and tech author Jamie Bartlett via The Guardian

To make matters worse, you can often find characters like these unified and acting out together in groups. Finding solidarity within each other, adding fuel to their unproductive purposes.

“…online anonymity also has a tendency to empower the worst among us, enabling cyberbullying and defamatory gossip.” -Chelsea Moore : The Dangers of Online Anonymity

The opportunities provided to these individuals to prompt online abuse are endless---and they will stop at nothing to make others feel just as miserable as they are. They thrive off of spreading discord and negativity anywhere they surf online, some going as far to even create several “throwaway” accounts to harass, provoke and terrorize others. It gives many of them great satisfaction to rile up others, elicit arguments and overall disturb their energy. It is uncertain as to why these individuals go to many of these lengths to trigger and get a reaction out of others.

Although we cannot actively do anything about them, we can however alter the way we respond to them and how much of that type of content we consume on a day to day basis. Long term exposure can take a toll on the psyche. Evoking feelings of low self worth, fear, anger, hopelessness —- and the list goes on. This becomes an even bigger matter of concern when we consider the impressionable youth who have easy access to this at any and every moment.

Dare I say it is a necessity, that we, as a collective, learn to and encourage one another to take social media detoxes or breaks and avoid engaging with said individuals. Without our responses, reactions and energy, — - they become powerless. Our acknowledgement of these personas acts as fuel to their fires.

Don’t give them that satisfaction.

Don’t feed the trolls.