Have you ever experienced somebody trolling you on the Internet?
Do you see cyberbullying happen on certain social media platforms?
Today we dive into the modern culture of the Internet, and we’re going to look at the negative aspects of an online environment.
We want you to be able to have conversations about some of the more negative aspects of the Internet such as trolls, cyber bullies, and even more.
The Darker Side To The Internet
There is a darker side to social media and the Internet overall, and we’re digging into this.
Which means to dive into something in more detail.
We’re doing a series about Internet memes and manners, and so much more—this is how we spend so much of our time today.
We want to give you real and relevant English above and beyond what you would learn in a textbook or a classroom.
If you look back at just what you would learn in a classroom, it’s already outdated.
The Internet and social media is constantly changing, and so you want to be able to keep up with it.
That means that you have to take a long hard look at what is happening on the Internet, both positive and negative.
Jessica had a negative experience with a troll recently, and so you see that it can happen to anyone.
She felt as if she was trolled on the Instagram channel, where somebody kept coming in and making mean comments about her appearance.
Though she tried to deal with it directly, this was out of context and negative to have somebody make comments about her appearance.
This is the type of instance that can happen each and everyday online, and so you want to be aware of it and be prepared to deal with it if it happens to you.
Some Vocabulary Words To Know In This Area
There are a couple of vocabulary words around the negative aspects of the Internet that you will want to learn.
- Trolling: This is the noun or action of saying negative things to somebody on social media or the Internet.
- Troll: The person who makes the negative comments in an online environment. This is often done just to get a reaction or to hurt somebody, often for no reason at all. In fairy tales, a troll was somebody who lurked under a bridge and tried to keep people away. This is similar to how a troll acts online, saying and doing negative things all while hiding behind a screen.
- Cyberbullying: This is the act of people being trolls online. This is the existence of these horrible negative actions in an online environment that exist to hurt somebody else.
There are so many horrible things that can happen on social media and in an online environment.
These vocabulary words will come up often, so you want to be aware of them.
Hopefully you never have to use them or find yourself to be a victim of this, but these words are an important part of the conversation.
The Negativity Online Can Be A Lot
Trolls are everywhere on the Internet, and they exist to hurt people and say negative things.
They say and do things that the would normally never do in real life.
You will oftentimes see women as the target of online bullying or trolls for a variety of reasons.
Women are judged on their appearance more than men, and this exists all over the world.
If it were a man teaching online, would the same sort of comments come about as what Jessica experienced?
Probably not because it seems to be a different standard, and trolls often go after the ones that they perceive to be the most vulnerable or the weakest.
All of this factors into trolling and you can see this trend come about often.
What allows people to get away with trolling is the anonymity of it, which is to say nobody knows them and they can hide behind this online.
This allows for a horrible cycle to exist where somebody can be a victim of trolling because the troll can hide behind their screen and say horrible things.
This is particularly horrible when it comes to teenagers where they really care about people say or think about them.
This turns into a terrible trend online and with kids at that age on social media.
Cyberbullying can be a horrible thing, and can lead to very sad outcomes when people are the victim.
You may hear about people feeling bad about themselves, hurting themselves, or even killing themselves after they have been the victim of cyberbullying.
This exists on social media extensively because people can hide behind the anonymity of it all, and never have to face the person that they are hurting.
You would never say something like this to somebody’s face in the office break room.
That’s a good rule here—think of what you would say to somebody at work in a breakroom.
If you wouldn’t say this to their face there, then don’t say it online on social media or any other platform.
This rule can help you to remember not to say something online in an environment that could potentially be very harmful.
Takeaway
Though there are some wonderful things about the Internet, there can be some rather negative aspects too.
You want to be aware of these, so that you know how to handle them if you are ever in this situation.
Hopefully you never encounter a troll or cyberbullying, but you should be aware of this existing.
People hide behind their screens because they know they can say things they would normally never say to somebody’s face.
This is a horrible trend, but one that exists and is prevalent on social media so it’s good to be aware of it.
If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.
We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
