If your friend said they spent their time deliberately annoying other people, how would you react?
Be happy that their life was obviously productive and satisfying or worried that something in it was seriously missing?
Now imagine they said that they do this anonymously so it can never fall back on them.
Would you be in awe that they were so clever to have found a way of distressing other people in the knowledge they will never suffer the consequences of their actions?
Or think they were shallow and lacking in enough courage to put their face and name to their behaviour?
Most of us would like to think people who are so negative are as rare as hen’s teeth. In reality, they’re as common as rain during an Irish summer.
Known as trolls, there can be few of us who haven’t had our lives affected, whether seriously or otherwise, by them.
Even if you’re not someone who actively uses social media, the chances are you’ve seen a crass comment written purely to provoke and cause upset somewhere on the internet which has rattled you, even briefly.
Of course, reacting to trolls by severing your connection with the online world is like chucking the baby out with the bath water.
The internet is a wonderful invention which greatly benefits us.
However, like everything, there is a dark side and trolls are very much a potent part of that. They have the power to seriously compromise our mental wellbeing.
Ignoring trolls is their kryptonite. Easier said than done though, particularly given that what passes for online social commentary can often be outrageously bigoted and inflammatory.
However, you’re not likely to achieve anything from arguing with them other than hurting your own wellness. They’re not going to change their opinion. They haven’t gone online for that purpose.
In fact, they quite possibly don’t even think what they have written which they may have done purely to cause offence.
Even if they do, the probability is they lack the courage to voice it without the shroud of anonymity or the wit to recognise their ignorance.
Listening to a radio programme recently discussing this topic, I heard a particularly pertinent question. When you are online and you are reading something which disturbs you written by someone who desires your annoyance and upset like the desert craves water, ask yourself the following:
“If I had to pay to react to this, would I?”
If the answer is no, then query why you are spending a far more valuable commodity on it, something which, unlike money, can’t be replaced, namely your time? Or risking your most valuable possession, your health and wellbeing?
If what has been written is hate speech, report it to the online platform. If it suggests the endangering of somebody, inform the Gardai. Otherwise, ask yourself are such people worth you disturbing your mental wellness over?
Your health and your time are too valuable to waste on internet loudmouths.
