Internet Trolling 101
If you use common websites such as YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter I’m sure you are aware of the term “Internet Trolls”. You know those pesky people that use the internet as a way to annoy and harass people? If you didn’t know, an Internet Troll is someone who posts offensive, negative, and/or hurtful comments online in order to spark an argument or debate. Trolls are common on all kinds of internet sites, including the ones I listed above.
Although trolls are outrageously annoying, and they have the ability to consume your time there is a way to get rid of them. Ignore them! Why will this help? Internet Trolls feed of off attention, so if you don’t give in they will eventually disappear and find someone else to bug. Internet trolls have not always been as bad as they are these days. As the Internet became more and more popular, trolls became more aggressive.
There are different types of Trolls. There are the kinds that harass a certain person, or continuously comment on a particular Facebook status/picture, or YouTube video just to try and get a response or start an argument. Then are some that will create fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, ect and pretend to be someone their not. They are able to access other user’s information and can basically do or say whatever they want because you never know who is actually behind the screen.
When you or your friends are using the internet, be extremely careful with who “add” on Facebook, “follow” on Twitter, or “subscribe” to on YouTube. A lot of the people you add can possibly be trolls. Also, never give out personal information over the internet and set your profiles to private. Trolls can ruin a person’s life, because what they do is basically cyber bullying. For example, the TV show “Catfish” on MTV shows normal people just like you or me that have found other people on the internet and get involved in a relationship with that person without even meeting them. They eventually want to meet, but when they do they find out that it was a fake profile and the person they “fell in love with” isn’t who they get to meet.
Internet Trolls can be very frustrating, and it seems like they never go away. They will insult you, hurt your feelings, harass you, and annoy you until you’re crazy. The only reason they do what they do is for attention. The best way to get rid of Internet Trolls is to ignore them and not let what they say get to you. If you see someone else being trolled, don’t get involved. Just simply tell that person to ignore the comments and block the troller.
