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Online trolling – ‘we do it cause its funny’

Online trolling has been going on for as long as we can remember. A new survey shows that one in three young people aged between 14 to 18 have been a victim of online abuse, and one in ten have carried it out.

Trolling now is at its most popular, one in three young people have fallen foul of a troll in the last six months and one in four are regularly attacked.

A survey of 2,000 teenagers found that the majority of attacks were based around the victim's appearance (40%) or about their race or religion (16%). Facebook is the most common place for victims to be attacked.

The interesting statistic is that 49% of people asked say it is ok to say things online that you would not do in person, face to face.

Trolls say that hurling insults online at people is ‘funny'. When victims were asked who insulted them, they said 67 percent of the insults came from people they knew. On the other side of the coin, almost a third of the people involved said that after an insult they lost confidence in themselves.

vinspired, a youth volunteering charity handled the survey of 14 to 18 year old and has launched a ‘lolz not troll's' campaign, asking young people to make a pledge not to troll others.

Earlier reports show that kids in America who are bullied are at a higher risk of anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and depression. The result is that damaged kids can have problems in later life.

Professor Mark Griffiths, a social media expert who is working with vinspired said “The ability to remain anonymous online can lead to people saying what they may not in person over social networking channels.

Young people need to understand the consequences that these comments can have, and it's important to teach them how to use social media correctly, to make the internet a safer and happier place.”

Terry Ryall, the chief executive of vinspired said “We have all heard of cases where youngsters have harmed themselves due to troll attacks – so writing a trolling message isn't harmless fun, it's potentially deadly.

“Our aim isn't to attack the trolls, but instead to get young people to do something positive and pledge not to be a troll themselves, abiding by the ‘netiquette' guide we have created.

Kitguru says: The moral of the story? if you are a troll, then perhaps a new hobby might be a good career move. Stamp collecting perhaps?

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2 comments

  1. To mne this sounds more like bullying then trolling. I would define trolling as people who come along to start fights like saying things on purpose to start people arguing. then they get to sit back and laugh. It’s not being a troll when you pick on people based on color or religion. Thats when it becomes racism and bullying.

  2. “Earlier reports show that kids in America who are bullied are at a higher risk of anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and depression. The result is that damaged kids can have problems in later life.”
    Sure, they need to fill the drugstores for more medicine, more and more and more therapy.
    They should have grown up in eastern Europe. End up like real man, not an ADHD pharmaceutical dependent pussies.
    I can’t believe what I’m reading. Suiciding because he got trolled. This is the nature getting rid of its weakest link. It’s been there since the first cell and it’s called natural selection. Give acces to a gun to this weak link and you have another world wide american piece of news.
    Wouldn’t be surprised to see the “House MD” series banned in US due to severe sarcasm and trolling that make ADHD children kill themselfes in schools.
    You probabily noticed I’m refering to ADHD. I’m doing that because US is the only country where this disease exists.
    ADDERALL®, brainwashing America like a baws. Give it to your children! In EU we take it before going to night clubs, ’cause it’s AMPHETAMINE! 😉
    As allways, sorry for my English. Yours trully, romanian reader.