Trolling

It has a whole new meaning these days. I always thought trolling had something to do with fishing boats and trolls were those cute, yet ugly, little dolls with the hair we spent hours braiding. Not these days.

The new dictionary definition of troll is: "make a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them." (GOOGLE Search)

IN an article in Psychology Today by Jennifer Goldbeck (phd) 

"An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response." (SOURCE)

Yes, they're out there. And I've seen them. I cannot imagine having that much anger or being that desperate for money or appreciating such dark 'humor' as to purposefully try to upset or offend other people. How?

• they twist words
• they miss the point (or at least, they pretend to)
• they cross the line every time and on purpose
• they use bad language
• they attack you
• they play the victim 
• they are relentless
• they 'one-up' you no matter what you say

I do enjoy joking around and finding a humorous way to make a point. I have been known to express my opinion about situations/products/events that I find displeasing or pleasing. But to deliberately strike out in the hopes of hurting someone? Nah. That's not cool no matter what your reasoning.

The best piece of advice anyone has ever offered on how to deal with them is:
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. I see it all the time. A troll comments and someone responds. And there it is. Trolls feed off the stupidity of others. Yes, I said it. Because it is STUPID to respond to anyone, online or in person, who makes statements that are purposefully hateful or offensive. They have researched and they know your weakness. And they will pounce on it knowing you will not be able to stop yourself from commenting back.

I have friends- online and in the real world- with whom I disagree on religion, politics, education, race relations, etc. But I respect their opinions and they respect mine. We do not have to agree on everything under the sun to be friends. I will remain silent before causing a raucous. Trolls do not. Trolls will do everything they can to insult you personally and they are relentless about it.

Trolls will always criticize but never offer constructive criticism. They are criticizing to cause harm and stir up chaos not to offer helpful suggestions to make anything better. Their criticisms are insulting and personal. And, when you respond, you can sense the excitement in their responses to your response. And the cycle goes on and on and on.

It's sickening, really. But what's worse is when I see people falling into the trap. So, again, DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.

It's this type of internet bullying that makes me worry about the kids I will no longer be teaching at school. When I taught technology I was able to explain all of the internet dangers to every student, 700+ of them, from the ages of 4 to 12. We covered everything from the importance of and how to set good passwords to cyberbullying. I even told them all about people who will try to scam their grandparents. 

Check out this video:

Bottom line: The internet is full of fun and interesting things to do, see, read, and use. But it is also full of hackers, identity thieves, cyberbullies, trolls... You MUST keep up with the bad side so that you can protect yourself and not fall into the traps that are set for you.

OH, and DON'T FEED THE TROLLS.

Have you had an experience with an internet troll?

Facebook

This is a partial re-post of a post I posted on Empty Nest. (Too bad the letter of the day isn't, 'P'. Ha!

Here it is. The post where I discuss appropriate vs inappropriate Facebook posts/conversations. The motivation behind choosing a post about Facebook relates to the internet safety and cyberbullying lessons I teach in the computer lab at my elementary school and the fact that many adults are clueless as to appropriate vs inappropriate internet citizenship.

We need an awakening.

Some of these I mention for the sake of safety. Even though you have your privacy settings, you just never know who is really going to see what you put out there. AND, once it is out there, IT IS out there. No take backs.

Other things I mention for the sake of pointing out stupidity. Because, apparently, people do not understand what they are posting makes people know for a fact that the person posting this stuff IS stupid. Of course, there are a couple that are nothing more than personal opinion.

Things people should NOT post via Facebook:

Personal Drama. Keep your drama OFF the Facebook. This is no place for people to air their dirty laundry. For example, if you've just gotten out of jail, that's something to keep to yourself. I really don't think it's something to broadcast on Facebook. And, in all honesty, if you have to go to Facebook for support/affirmation, well...that's just a sad commentary on someone's life. Sad.

Relationship Drama. Again, this is inappropriate. No one wants to read the argument or making up between two people in a romantic relationship. No one wants to see the gushy stuff either. Keep this between the two of you. Please.

Bathroom Selfies. This one should not even have to be discussed. It should be abundantly CLEAR that we do NOT post selfies taken in the bathroom. That's just stupid. And gross. If you do, do NOT be surprised if people comment in a negative manner. You sort of walk right into that when you post stupid things on the Facebook.

Naked Pix of any kind. Sadly, this isn't self explanatory. Even if it's partial nudity, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE IT. And, those who do, you don't really want to share this with. Cover up people. Again, don't complain if you do it and get negative or crude comments.

Broadcast the problems of other people. Seriously, I don't care who it is or what your relationship is to them, it's NOT YOUR BUSINESS TO BROADCAST. This happened just the other day when someone posted something about one of her family members on a friend's timeline FOR ALL TO SEE. That's right. When it's posted on a friend's timeline, that friend is not the only one who sees it. Really stupid.

Personal information. To much personal information posted on Facebook can cause you some big trouble down the road. I know a woman older than I who put her phone number on a friend's Facebook timeline. Which means it showed up on mine and many others. Dumb ass thing to do.

Vacation plans. Unless, of course, you want it to get out that no one will be at your house and that it would be a great time for someone to go over there and rob you. Post about your vacation upon your return. When you're tired and grumpy enough that no one would dare come near your house. I do know, personally, people who do this and think that the possibility of someone taking advantage of their absence is nonexistence. Tell that to the people who were robbed because of posting their vacay plans on Facebook.

Location. Again, posting your current location tells potential thieves that you are not at home and they should run over right away to rob you. More importantly, if you've posted pictures of your kids AND your location...that's just making it easy for the perves.

Pictures of your kids/grandkids tagged with their names. Seriously. This is not safe. It gives a potential perve a name to use. 

Political opinions. This just makes you sound opinionated and judgmental and can come across as trying to bully others into believing as you do. Share your political views with those who want to hear them but most of us on Facebook couldn't care less. If you want to put this stuff out there, make a page for your political views. Or just follow your favorite politicians and comment. A lot. 

On a related note, Your Religion/Religious Views. I'm so glad other people have them. I have my own. But no one who doesn't know me personally knows what they are. I don't shove my views down the throats of others and I wish they would return the favor.

Anything that could work against you when applying for college or employment or keeping a job. Duh. We could even extend this to include anything that anyone could use against you for any reason. A lot of what I've already discussed falls into this categroy. With the popularity and ease of access of social media, it is no surprise that future employers (not to mention college application folks) are checking us out via any and all social media sites. 

Negativity. I am SICK of hearing negativity people post about their jobs or relationships or just in general because they are negative people. Stop it. NOW. Hate the job? Get a new one. Or at least spend time searching for a better one instead of sharing nothing but negativity about the one they do have. Unless it's got humor. If it's just something being said because it's funny, I'm down with that. How can you tell? Because you laugh and because those people aren't constantly/consistently posting negativity. Same deal with relationships. I tend to see the people in this category as attention seekers who love to host pity parties.

Ills and ailments. I seriously DO NOT want to hear about someone's diarrhea. I don't want to hear about that hospital stay and what they did, step by step, to them while they were there. If there's a serious illness someone is battling and they want to post for friends and family, make a page. That will be a good place for people, who are into hearing all that stuff, to go and catch up/keep up with them. OR use a private message or make it an event for people to choose whether or not to see it. I find most of these folks to be attention seekers too.

Drunk Posts. Seriously. Don't do this. It's a really STUPID thing to do. This includes pix for obvious reasons.

The Games. Don't post about the games you're playing and ask people for lives. We don't like that. At all.

Gossip. It's not nice. It can actually be considered cyberbullying. 

Things that are ok to post via Facebook:

Good news. It's ok to share good news- a new job, new addition, new relationship, etc. As long as we aren't shoving it in someone's face. Motivation behind the action, people. Motivation.

Humor. If you possess it. If not, there are tons of pages to 'Like' out there that provide clever quips and humor for you! Plus, most of us need a laugh every day! This should never be done in a mean-spirited manner. Check that motivation.

Congratulations. It's great when people offer congratulations and that's fine on Facebook. We all need a pat on the back from time to time.

Celebrations. Everyone appreciates and enjoys a good celebration- birthdays, weddings, etc. Just be careful of the pictures and the tagging of said pictures.

Non-embarrassing pictures. Those that you don't mind people seeing. Be careful posting pictures of others. Make sure they don't mind being tagged and DO NOT tag their kids.

Words of encouragement. This is not a bad thing to post on Facebook either when it's something like "You can do it!" or "You've got this!"  But I don't think it should be done to the level of exposing someone's private business as to why you're offering the encouragement.

Weather updates. I know this sounds weird and uninteresting. But our family has a friend who works for the National Weather Service (or did- retired) and, because we live in an area affected by hurricanes, I loved and appreciated it when he posted hurricane updates.

PR for friends. This is usually fine as long as the friend or family member doesn't mind. For example, a lot of us at school promoted our friend's brand new book when it was first published.

Team support. Have a favorite sports team? Go ahead and cheer for them on Facebook. But don't get something started with a fan of a rival team. That probably won't end well. Unless it's all in good fun. Which it should be unless you're just a ridiculous individual.

Appreciation for others. I like to do this on occasion just because I have some friends that are so wonderful that I want everyone to know how great these people are. If they don't like it, just take it down.

Great Recipes. YES, please! I'm always up for a new one or a remake of an old one or whatever is out there to be shared!


Just remember: anything you post to social media can and will be used against you in one way or another and you could end up paying dearly for it.

What did I leave out? What are your thoughts?

This is Day 6 of the A-Z Challenge!