Trolls of the Internet

When people think of trolls they think of this

Or maybe this

But in today’s age where people can easily access social media trolls doesn’t really look like that, most of them I think.

Troll on the internet is a person who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument. According to the Urban Dictionary trolling is the deliberate act, of making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on various internet forums with the intent to provoke an emotional knee jerk reaction from unsuspecting readers to engage in a fight or argument. They use any environment where they are allowed to make public comments, such as blog sites, social networks, news sites, discussion forums, and game chat.

A lot of people consider trolling as an act of bullying its impact is by far the most vicious and damaging to young people and adults alike. People sometimes write things online that they wouldn’t say to someone in person such as “go away and die” or “you are so disgusting, I hate seeing you around”, it can seem easier to be mean and people don’t think about the effect it has, because they don’t have to see the persons reaction or how upset they have made that person. However, this does not make their behavior acceptable. This is still cyber bullying. Some people like to think what they are doing is trolling or a prank, but they are actually bullying. Instead of both people laughing in the end, one gains advantage of the other. Supporters of trolling see it has harmless fun but for the majority of people it affects, it is far from fun, and it may cause distress and depression.

How to deal with trolls you may ask?

Dealing with being trolled is to ignore rather than engage with a troll. In other words, "Please do not feed the trolls." You could click “report” or “block”, but that isn’t always a strong enough action, especially if the damage has already been done. The bully posted an image that is now causing you problems with a larger group of people, and blocking/deleting does nothing to stop it spreading as of course that image can be replicated. You could also change your privacy settings and speak to a family member or friend and notify them of what has happened and how it may have affected you. Telling someone can really help