Trolling: What is it and what is its meaning on the Internet?

“trolling” has unfortunately become an activity that is increasing day by day on the Internet. More and more people engage in this reprehensible act of attacking and provoking different people belonging to a virtual community.

Trolls are manipulative and provocative people whose objective is to alter or spy on the conversations that exist under a group thought of the certain community in which they are giving their opinion. They are characterized by having an unknown identity and a great deal of activity on the different Internet platforms.

We are going to deal with this topic to explain what it means “trolling” on the Internet and on what kind or type of platforms do the people who practice the troll move. In addition, we will teach you how you can avoid a troll.

What does the word “trolling” mean on the Internet?

Trolling is the action carried out by people who call themselves trolls in a discussion forum or in comments on public access articles. These people may or may not have a known identity.

A troll is someone who seeks to anger or disperse the thoughts and ideas of others through certain psychological practices based mainly on breaking the group thought that dominates the virtual community.

These psychological practices can be to perform provocative phrases, commenting on irrelevant ideas or outside the central theme of the group as well as using humor to divert conversations and cause chaos between the different members.

In other words, the main objective, or basic idea that a person who trolls has is to provoke negative and ill-intentioned reactions among their Internet peers.

We must bear in mind that many times these people have the ability to go unnoticed in their comments, so we must be careful when we read or listen to comments that are initially out of focus.

What kind of platforms can you troll on in the digital world?

People who troll move in the digital world through different platforms whose common characteristics are free access to comments from participants and the possibility of being able to give their opinion without restrictions.

Next, we will name the main ones:

In social networks

It is one of the places where there are more possibilities to make annoying and provocative comments, since social networks allow us to comment on photos or videos of people and open debates on ideas raised by account owners of these networks.

in forums

Perhaps it is the most controversial and at the same time comfortable place that this class of people who troll can find, since ideas are permanently exposed in the forums for analysis and healthy discussion, generating a large flow of comments.

Many of these comments the veracity of the information cannot be verified because of the maelstrom they present, being a perfect setting for a troll because they can tell lies that are difficult to detect.

When people defend their ideas or moral principles, they are very exposed to receiving provocative and irrelevant comments, thus provoking in each one of them a adverse and psychologically negative reaction.

When off-topic ideas are exposed that groups the forum, confrontations take place between the same members for no reason, it is because we are in the presence of a troll.

in online games

Online games make it easy for trolls for different reasons, but the main one is because their identity is kept secret, which is why they feel psychologically stronger and believe they have nothing to lose.

In this way, it facilitates their narcissism, causing the constant generation of ideas that can anger, provoke and annoy gamers.

In addition, trolls know that by having the focus of attention on the game, our minds intuitively lower its protective barriers and become more vulnerable to these kinds of detestable actions.

Is trolling a form of cyberbullying?

When a person trolls, in short, what they are doing is having a sadistic intention towards another, attacking them psychologically (and even sometimes physically) so that they feel much inferior to their attacker and at the same time can be manipulated.

With provocative comments, the troll manages to generate a confrontation and anger between the members of a virtual community, thus achieving that the person or member of that community isolates himself and then can attack him emotionally, that is Saying what you are doing is cyberbullying.

Consequences of trolling Can I hurt someone by trolling?

A person who trolls can cause very large and irreparable psychological damage to others.

This is due to a troll’s ability to manipulate and turn a psychologically defenseless person into its attack victim.

When a person is attacked through their psychology, it can produce changes in their behavior in general, family and social isolation, inclination towards substances such as drugs or alcohol, appearance of the symptoms of depression and the presence of low self-esteem and in some cases suicide may be resorted to.

That is why you must always keep in mind that a person who trolls causes harm to others.

How to fight trolls so that they never bother you?

Keep in mind that this is a very sensitive issue and that it is present in many places today and as such must be given a lot of attention by us so as not to fall into the traps of those who troll.

To combat trolls we can follow these tips:

• ignore themthat may be the most efficient formula to eliminate people who troll.
• block them of our social networks, in this way they will not have access to our information and we will not know what their comments are.
• report them in a public way before the group or virtual community and in some more serious cases, resort to justice.
• Identify them in the forumsin social networks or in video games as this will help the other members to be careful with their comments out of place.
• Discuss this situation with people close to us, since they will have a different perspective and can be of great help to us.
• Always keep in mind that these disastrous comments do not represent reality of ourselves, but are ideas or strategies of unscrupulous and manipulative people.