Coffee Table Articles

It has become a bit of a ritual, every time I come home from school I can expect a small stack of articles cut out and highlighted, waiting for me on the coffee table. My dad, a high school social studies teacher and an avid newspaper reader, saves the articles he believes are important for me to read and insists that I do so whenever I come home. I usually don’t read them. Let’s be honest, I’m a college student, I do enough reading. But occasionally an article will catch my eye and I can’t help but to pick it up and read.

This weekend, I made the trip home to Akron, Ohio for Labor Day and I was not surprised to find an article from TIME magazine with my name on it. The article was called “How Trolls are ruining the Internet” by Joel Stein and I determined it was worthy of a read. What is a troll? Why is it on the Internet? And why did my dad want me to read the article so badly? I decided it was a “sit and read” rather than a “skim and pitch” simply because I knew so little about the subject.

The Internet trolls are people who seek out arguments and opportunities to harass others over the internet/social media. According to Stein, these people feed off of the anonymity, invisibility, lack of authority and not communicating in real time. I’m sure we all know a few people who hide behind computer screens when it comes to controversial topics or making bold statements, but Internet trolls take this practice to the extreme. In July, Leslie Jones, the African American co-star of the new Ghostbusters film, was so badly harassed by trolls on Twitter, who were angry the film starred four women instead of men, that she considered quitting show business. The harassment included racist and sexist threats as well as a picture of Jones at the movie’s premier with semen splattered on it that was circulating the web with crude and derogatory remarks. Jones stated, “I was in my apartment by myself, and I felt trapped… It’s not done to express an opinion, it’s done to scare you.”

So why are Internet trolls trying to scare people? How is this benefiting them? A study done by Forbes shows that trolls are, in real life, narcissist, psychopaths and sadists. In the research, they administered a test called the Dark Tetrad, which measured the negative personality traits in over a thousand Internet users. The results were fascinating. The correlation between trollish behavior and traits such as narcissism and sadism were evident. Internet trolls find enjoyment from the fear and anger of their victims. When you are faced with a troll it is best not to respond. Continuing to argue is only feeding into the attention they crave.

It’s unfortunate to think that trolling could be scaring people away from social media and spreading a society of hate and hesitation. Educating yourself about the topic and the effective ways of handling these situations is the best advice I can give. When you understand the motives behind trolling, you are better equipped to ignore it. I guess sometimes reading the coffee table articles isn't such a bad idea.