Please Don’t Feed the Trolls
By: Darryl Brooks
Tags: Life Lessons, Trolls, Social Media, Self Improvement, 2021

As we head into the last week (Thank God) of 2020, I begin to think and write about those things I want to change in the new year. Not necessarily New Year’s Resolutions, I will write about those in a few days, just things I want to be more mindful of.

And the one I want to write about today is how I deal with Internet Trolls. I’m sure you’ve heard the term and may think of those things that hide under bridges waiting for a billy goat to wander past. But the name comes from fishing. Trolling is where you motor through the water with some bait trailing behind your boat, hoping something will bite.

So don’t do that.

In the third season of The West Wing, two years before the birth of Facebook, Donna Moss tried in vain to get Josh Lyman not to answer trolls on an Internet forum. Do not engage, she pleaded.

And I have to tell myself that every day. Every. Day.

You know the feeling. You’re scrolling through your favorite social media site, and some random post sends your blood pressure soaring. WTF? I’ll show that guy, you think, grabbing the keyboard and banging out a terse reply.

Why? You don’t know this person (hopefully), they don’t know you, and they couldn’t care less about your opinion. They only want reactions. More importantly, they only want clicks. So, if they piss you off so much, why would you give them what they want?

Do not engage.

I frequently liken social media to a cocktail party. It puts things in perspective. So, imagine this. You’re at a large gathering among friends, some acquaintances, and more than a few total strangers. Suddenly, some guy in the corner stands up and shouts, “Woodrow Wilson was the worst president ever!” What would happen?

Everybody at the party would gather around this guy, quickly separate into two camps and quarrel over the merits or lack thereof of Woodrow Wilson, right?

No. Anyone near the guy would quickly move away. Everyone else would ignore him and pretend they didn’t even hear the comment. Because that’s what people do. Seeing no one took the bait, the lonely loser would sit back down, or more likely, make his way to the door and leave.

So, why would you act any differently on the Internet?

Do not engage.

The first time I visited New York City was in the mid-80s. I was walking down 7th Ave. at lunchtime, when a guy stumbles out of a bar in front of me, lights a cigarette, and shouts, “Screw Ed Koch!” I guess he wasn’t a fan of the mayor. How many of the hundred or so people within sight and sound do you think stopped and argued or supported him?

That’s right, zero. Nobody engaged. Why would they? It was the ranting of a random drunk on a New York sidewalk. But that same drunk types in that same statement on Twitter, and thousands of people will stop what they are doing and take time out from their busy day to voice their opinions. Why?

Do not engage.

Another, somewhat more benign version of the Troll is the person that sends out obvious clickbait of the “Share this if…” variety. Share this if you hate cancer. Well, who doesn’t hate cancer, I’ll share it. Why? Cancer don’t give a shit. You’re not helping anyone or supporting anyone. You’re just reacting to a random post. And let me tell you a little secret. Every time you click on one of those, somebody somewhere is making money.

And it ain’t cancer research.

As we plowed through 2020, social media got busier than ever. For many, it was their primary social outlet. People that rarely Tweeted, Friended, Liked, or Clapped were online chatting with friends and family. So, it’s not surprising that I also saw a rise in trolling. I don’t think the number of Trolls increased, but the number of people reacting to them.

“What do you mean, only a genius can figure out the solution to two plus two? I know that one; let me show the world my brilliance.”

As I have written several times, for me, social media, besides being a way to talk to friends and family and be entertained, is a marketing outlet. If that is you, it’s even more important not to engage. Have you ever seen a political sticker on the front window of Walmart? No. Why would they drive away half their business?

So, many times during the past year, I’ve clicked on a window and begun typing my answer to some random posting on Facebook or Twitter. But luckily for me, Donna Moss was always looking over my shoulder, whispering, Do Not Engage.

I would urge you to do the same in 2021.

But, I’m taking it a step further. I not only don’t intend to engage with Trolls, I want to minimize their impact on me altogether. I have almost 3,000 ‘friends’ on Facebook and a bit over half that on Twitter. So, I see a lot of crap in my feeds. Here is something I have begun doing late this year and will ramp up in 2021.

At first, I don’t block, mute, or unfriend the person posting the message. Typically, they are passing on something from someone else. So if you right-click somewhere depending on the media, you can block the originator of the message. This has cut down on the number of annoying posts.

If the person posting it is the originator, then I will react depending on the person. I may mute them for 30 days. Depending on if I actually know the person IRL, I may give them three strikes you’re out scenario. But eventually, I will whittle down all the Trolls in my feeds.

Little by little, I am cleaning up my social media. It’s a bit like trying to eliminate spam from your email. You won’t get rid of all of it, but you can at least not be a breeding ground. You can be part of the solution.

So, if you are one of my thousands of close-knit friends on some social media platform and you suddenly find I’m not there anymore, take a look at your last few posts.

I won’t engage.