The internet has broken down a lot of barriers and presented us with many exciting opportunities, but it has also given birth to a lot of darkness and destruction in the form of cyberbullies and trolls. Being a faceless name on the internet has given people a sort of ‘hall pass’ to say whatever they want with little to no consequences, resulting in some people taking their own lives due to online harassment and bullying. In this article, we delve into the psychopathology of individuals who engage in this type of behaviour and explore ways the internet can remain a place where we are free to speak our minds whilst maintaining a sense of civilised and respectable internet culture.

Cyberbullying and trolling

First, we need to understand what exactly is meant by the terms cyber trolling and bullying before delving deeper into the topic. Cyberbullying is always malevolent in nature and encompasses actions such as harassing someone online by means of sending or posting harmful, abusive, mean, and aggressive messages that are false, usually anonymously or under a fake name. Cybertrolls can either be malevolent, engaging in similar behaviours mentioned above, or they can be comical by sharing humorous content, usually in the form of exaggerated stereotypes.

Even though there is an intended humorous side to some cybertrolls' behaviour, it can still be damaging to another internet user’s mental health. Cybertrolling and bullying can have severe adverse effects on someone’s life, and in many cases resulting in mental illness or destroying someone’s online reputation or personal life.

Internet culture

There is a saying, ‘once something is posted online, it is forever’ and this is truly the case when it comes to online posts going ‘viral’; it is the ‘document that never dies’. The terminology is intentional because it spreads like a virus fast and through humans, in this instance, online contact. The internet has brought us all closer by allowing us to connect and communicate with people all over the world from various walks of life. That is also the reason why it has been causing division to some extent, because it has given malicious individuals a platform to cause harm.

For a lot of web users, the line between reality and the internet has become blurred, and they struggle to separate the two. In some cases, the internet is some people’s reality, as they live vicariously through their online persona, which then becomes part of their actual identity. This becomes problematic as online personas tend to be quite different from in-person personas, and they are also treated differently, for example, someone might have a sadistic online persona, which, to some extent, is accepted online; however, this is antisocial behaviour and will not be well received in reality or ‘the real world’. A negative aspect of internet culture today is that it normalises extreme behaviour and rewards that behaviour through likes and shares.

The psychopathology of cyberbullies and trolls

Cyberbullying and trolling are in fact very insidious, as they are very intentional and targeted, and the bully or troll usually finds pleasure in causing harm and chaos. Anonymity on the internet has given rise to cyberbullying and trolls because they get the satisfaction of upsetting as many people as possible without real consequences. Psychologists initially linked this malevolent online behaviour to the Schadenfreude effect, which is feeling pleasure out of someone else’s downfall. This was based on studies that found that when an individual belittles someone else or witnesses their suffering, it corrects their own low self-esteem. This opened the discussion as to whether this behaviour is a result of low self-esteem, as it is in many other cases of bullying and belittling.

Psychologists have recently determined that serious cyberbullying and trolls all express four dark personality traits, also known as the dark tetrad. The four dark tendencies are psychopathy, narcissism, machiavellianism, and sadism. Psychopathy is the tendency to be callously indifferent about our reckless pursuit of getting what we want. Narcissism is the pursuit of grandiosity, monopolising the limelight, and thinking we are better than everyone else. Machiavellianism is the pursuit of causing strategic harm for our own benefit. Sadism, which is particularly insidious, is the act of seeking to harm someone because we find it pleasurable.

This is very useful in understanding the behaviour these individuals display online, as it has serious toxic social consequences. Of the four tendencies, sadism was very prevalent amongst cyberbullies and trolls, and it stood out from the other three dark tendencies. The internet, which provides a platform with anonymity to hide behind with no consequences for their actions, is a playground for individuals with sadistic tendencies, which is partly why cyberbullies and trolls thrive in online environments.

Towing the line between freedom of speech and bullying

It is easy to acknowledge that cyberbullying and trolling when they're extremely malevolent should be dealt with in some way, but it is tricky considering we need to protect freedom of speech. There is a fine line between freedom of speech, bullying, trolling, and harassment, which makes it easy for individuals to abuse. The issue we currently face is how we deal with antisocial online behaviour without compromising people’s freedom of speech.

As a result of this, some internet communities currently rely heavily on group thinking and herd mentality to ‘mob’ others online and ‘cancel’ them. ‘Online mobbing’, which is the act of getting together a few people to attack an individual online, and ‘cancel culture’, which is a movement aimed at destroying a person’s online reputation to such an extent that it destroys their physical reputation, often resulting in a loss of income, are big threats to freedom of speech.

The issue with ‘online mobbing’ and ‘cancel culture’, besides being heavily sadistic movements, is the threat it poses to freedom of speech due to silencing people through fear. Currently, we are conflating cyberbullies and trolls and also lumping together saying hurtful and offensive things with having an opinion that may differ from yours online as trolling. This is potentially a dangerous way of thinking, as it will brand everyone who you deem offensive or who has a different opinion from yours as a cyberbully or troll, which can lead to potential legal recourse. It is thus important to find the balance between freedom of speech, cyberbullying, trolls, and harassment.

Conclusion

To conclude, threats from cyberbullies and malevolent trolls should not be tolerated, but we have to accept that there will be web users who will disagree with us, insult us, and even hate us. It will take a while to establish boundaries online, as the web is, in some ways, without boundaries. I am of the opinion that individuals who partake in these insidious online behaviours, especially those who partake in ‘online mobbing’ and the ‘cancel culture’ movement, suffer from something I am coining as dissociative internet disorder. These individuals disassociate themselves from reality by completely buying into their online personas and revelling in other’s pain and suffering at their ands. Tackling the issue of cyberbullies and trolls will have to start with clearly identifying boundaries without compromising freedom of speech and addressing it as a psychological and mental health problem instead of just a legal problem.