Internet Trolling vs Cyber Bullying

I'm sure you've heard of cyber bullying and how it affects people- especially teens. We see it all over the news and social media, of stories about how cyber bullying affected lives, how others overcame cyber bullying situations, and even tragic stories of how it can lead to suicide. 

Last week I posted a question to the eme6414 discussion board about cyber bullying vs trolling, and the motivation for it. This post isn't about motivation, but I was curious to learn more about the similarities and differences between the two. I have never been a victim of cyber bullying, but have definitely experienced quite a bit of trolling. 

Dr. Dennen shared some of her thoughts about motivation and the types of settings bullying and trolling tend to appear in, including "the gaming and programming worlds, plus the bits in the news about successful women in male-dominated fields..." I think this is absolutely true. In my experience, I have seen and experienced trolling in the gaming world, along with online forums related to specific "nerdy" hobbies, such as fantasy, LARP, sci-fi, cosplay, etc.. The only place I have personally seen online bullying is on cosplay forums, specifically 4Chan, back when I was in high school. 4Chan operates completely anonymously, giving the bullies a shield to hide behind, where they cannot be identified and held accountable for their hurtful words and online actions.

I've spent the last hour reading up about the two, trying to determine if they are indeed separate things as I have believed them to be for many years, or if they actually are one and the same. From the resources I read, I think that the Wikipedia pages do a great job of explaining each. Check them out- Internet Troll and CyberbullyingWhile I do think that trolling and cyber bulling are related, I believe them to be different. I think that cyber bullies will use trolling as a tactic, but I don't believe internet trolls are intentionally bullying. Let me explain why.

Internet Trolling
Overall, the main goal of the internet troll is to annoy. Trolls will derail a topic on purpose, either by going on useless tangents, adding useless information, asking silly unrelated questions and continually saying "why?" to every response, or saying things to evoke emotion from other participants. You may have heard the phrase "U mad bro?" which began with internet trolls. You may have also seen the "troll face" image, which is an image that is used to indicate trolling on a forum/discussion (below). 
You also may have heard the phrase "do not feed the trolls" which is often said on forums in the presence of trolls to tell others to ignore the troll. Nothing deflates a troll's efforts than lack of attention. The moment people stop responding to the troll, he/she will get bored and leave. 

I mentioned that I've been on the receiving end of trolling, back when I was playing MMORPGs about 10 years ago. The game's forums were filled with players that would troll each other to provoke in-game battles, and to simply annoy. I was rather naive the first time I encountered a troll, and fell into their trap of endless meaningless questions. I was flustered and annoyed which increased with every response. Finally, I stopped responding, and watched the troll's next few posts which said things like "Hey, where'd you go?" "I think she's gone."  "Awww, but that was fun, did you see how upset she got?" After that, I knew what to look. I never fell victim again, but unfortunately saw others that did (I tried to help out where I could by calling out the troll and telling the victim to ignore them).

Cyber Bullies
On the flip-side, bullies have the intention to inflict emotional harm. Unlike trolling where the experience eventually stops, bullying sometimes doesn't. Bullies are ruthless, targeting insecurities, using hate speech, and tearing down people's self-worth. As I mentioned earlier, I've seen this rampant in the cosplay community- especially on 4Chan. People will share photos of their recent cosplays that they're excited about, and the bullies will descend, commenting on their weight, skin color, level of attractiveness, and ability to costume. They will spread rumors, make up lies, and do everything they can to metaphorically cast the person out with yesterday's trash. Some bullies don't stop here. They will follow their targets all over the internet, stalking them and making their online life miserable. Since the internet has become such a staple for most people in the world, bullies can be incredibly damaging for a person's self-esteem.


Essentially, I consider trolling to be super annoying, but cyber bullying to be damaging and morally wrong. I don't think they are the same, but I do think that bullies can use trolling as a tactic, and I'm sure there are some trolls that have eventually crossed over into the bullying world. Nevertheless, they are related, and something that I am careful to avoid. 


What do you think? Are trolling and cyber bulling the same? Different?
Comment below and share your thoughts!

Comments

  1. Wow! Such an amazing post! I loved it... Thank you for making it so detailed and thorough. I also appreciate you sharing Dr. Dennen's insights. After reading this post, I went ahead and read about the Malicious Communications Act. I would recommend you to read these two articles too: "xamining the concepts, issues, and implications of internet trolling" and "Defining Cyberbullying: A Qualitative Research into the Perceptions of Youngsters" Thanks again!

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  2. This is a great post describing the difference between bullying vs. trolling. I agree that they are different but I would advise others, especially younger children and teens to stay away from both. As a teacher, I have seen how social media effects students and one troll can easily misinterpreted and hurt another student's feelings.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I wholeheartedly agree! It's not fun to become a victim of either. The best way for children (and really anyone) to avoid becoming a target is to get educated about what trolling and cyber bullying is, and then never engage either. Silence is best in these situations, and utilizing block tools and friends-only features can help distance bullies.

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    2. Thank you for sharing the differences between trolling and cyberbullying. I hadn't really ever thought about the technical definitions, and so I appreciate you taking the time to research those. I can see where, while trolling can cause annoyance and frustration, it probably does not do as much harm as cyberbullying. It is so upsetting to think that people can be so hurtful to each other in a community where the whole point is to come together because of similar interests. As we continue to learn more tools and ways to integrate technology, I think we always have to be mindful of best practices and watch out for how they are being used. Thanks for sharing!

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