WEBVTT

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back in the mid 1990s it was very common to see naive sounding marketing about

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how the internet was this remarkable new tool that could connect you to people

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all over the world and while that was certainly true giving every random

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person out there a keyboard a platform visible to anyone on Earth and some

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degree of anonymity was also The Perfect Storm for internet trolls to start

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antagonizing everyone of course people including non- trolls anger each other

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online on a regular basis by the way trolling is not the same as

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getting into a heated argument with someone who's expressing a sincere

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opinion rather trolling is intentionally

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posting something misleading or inflammatory in order to trick or upset

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people and often to provoke some kind of

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response as well but why did people even troll in the first place especially as

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there's already enough Strife on the internet perhaps unsurprisingly there

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have been psychological studies done on the subject that have found a

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correlation between trolling behavior and so-called dark personality traits

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such as narcissism and psychopathy tying into the idea that a commonly suggested

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motive for trolling is that it makes the troll feel important and better than the

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victim as they can elicit very strong emotional reactions from people with

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just a few keystrokes wait what well okay obviously not every Internet troll

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is a completely self-absorbed psychopath but the point is more that General human

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curiosity of drama combined with our natural desire for attention makes

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online gathering places a fertile ground for people who like watching the world

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burn or maybe just the message board and speaking of forums one common variation

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of trolling takes the form of concern trolling where someone goes into a forum

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of something like a rival sports team or say political candidate and pretends to

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be a supporter then tries to undermine the group in some way this could be

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anything from pointing out dubious weaknesses in other people's positions

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in order to sew Discord and doubt or

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simply saying things to make the group look illegitimate or unhinged some

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political campaigns and corporations have even been caught using sponsored

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trolls to attack opposing Brands politicians or ideologies in fact a

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Harvard study concluded that the government of mainland China posts

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nearly half a billion troll messages on social media every year in order to sway

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public opinion but assuming the trolls you usually encounter on a day-to-day

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basis aren't covertly backed by government or business another proposed

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motivator for trolling is something called

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deindividuation which is the tendency people have to lose their sense of self

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in crowds just as people in a large group can sometimes end up rioting or

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engaging in other Shenanigans due to the individuals involved thinking they don't

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bear as much responsibility since everyone else around them is also

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throwing rocks or whatever trolls often see themselves as part of an anonymous

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mass of people which lowers their inhibitions and makes it easier for them

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to go at people online when they wouldn't say the same things in a real

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life conversation one-on-one and this type of trolling doesn't even have to be

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verbal one such famous trolling incident happened back in 2005 when a glitch in

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World of Warcraft allowed trolls to spread intentionally an in-game sickness

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called corrupted blood to lots of other users creating an in-game catastrophe

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for tons of unsuspecting players at the hands of an anonymous mob of trolls but

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as widespread as trolling is because of these psychological Tendencies much of

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it comes in the form of calling people who play a certain game or buy a certain

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thing Fanboys or saying stuff like my local sports team will surely defeat

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yours in the upcoming athletic competition a more directly threatening

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concern when it's bad enough to have more direct consequences such as doxing

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where trolls publish personal information or private details about a

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Target online you can learn more about real life effects of online abuse here

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but if you're dealing with a particularly nasty Troll and what

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they're doing isn't spilling into the realm of the real world remember that

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trolls are nearly always looking to get a rise out of you so follow the old and

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please do not feed the trolls with with as many people as there are who get

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sucked in by troll comments anyway they

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love salt and they've already had plenty to eat but if you need plenty to listen

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to head over to audible.com they're the leading provider of audiobooks with more

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audiobooks are great to listen to when you're driving around walking around

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working out or maybe playing Pokémon go or something and you're tired of the

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excessively repetitive Pokémon music and want something else for the like 80

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on going I've been Rel listening to The Hobbit by JRR tolken I highly recommend

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it if you're a Lord of the Rings fan and didn't like the Hobbit movie but haven't

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read the book I would go read the book it's a lot better if you like this video

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let us know in the comments down below what other stuff you'd like us to explore the psychology of don't forget

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to press the like button as well dislike it if you disliked it get subscribed

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check out Channel Super Fun there's some crazy trolling over there including

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pranks and other various Shenanigans and lonus Tech dips because that's where

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probably most of you came from anyways