The term "cyber-bullying" has gotten a lot of press recently, especially in education circles, and I think it's great that the world (school administrations in particular) has now realized the dark potential in the instant communication that the internet offers. I don't think this will surprise people to know, but anyone who spends any considerable amount of time on line, especially time spent interacting with strangers, is going to encounter someone who is, for lack of a better word, a jerk. Actually, there is a better word: troll. Why troll?
Not this kind of troll. | Often we think of "cyber bullying" as merely a continuation of the in-person bullying someone faces in the so called real world. But, unfortunately, cyber-bullying can also be random, arbitrary, and unexplainable. Sometimes, someone has just decided, for reasons you cannot understand, to say truly obnoxious things, things so heinous that just thinking about them makes your blood boil, insults that DEMAND a response. And if you do respond, well, you've been trolled. |
If you take the analogy of a mean-spirited creature who hides under a bridge waiting for unsuspecting people to trip-trap along, you're not too far off. An article on slate has revealed that research has confirmed what we all already know: so called "net trolls" are, to use a term from the article itself "horrible people." http://tinyurl.com/kpnbo7u
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