Online Etiquette: Why Do Trolls Act So Mean?

Ever jumped a traffic light, bribed someone, or downloaded a pirated movie?  Or scrolled past a nasty online comment wondering, why do people behave this way? [Have you ever done something online you wouldn't do face-to-face? Like to share?]

That old saying “Stolen fruit tastes sweetest.” sums it up well.  Hidden behind a screen, bending or breaking rules feels safer.  That little dopamine rush makes us feel invincible.

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Trolls thrive on the same rush.  They're not interested in any real discussion.  They just want our views, likes, and share.  Every reaction gives them a fleeting sense of power.  [Has a troll ever got under your skin?  Did you take the bait?  Drop a quick yes/no in the comments.] 

Every troll has a game plan.  It goes like this:

• Whataboutism:  Drag in unrelated issues to dodge your point of view. 
• Bad-Faith Arguments:  Pretend to debate, but waste your time.
• Personal Attacks:  Insult you instead of engaging  

[Which of these have you faced?  Vote in the comments: Whataboutism, Bad Faith, or Personal Attacks?]

Once you spot these tricks, you realise - what they want is not debate, but your attention.  Left unchecked, they poison conversations, spread misinformation, and erodes online grace and civility.

True..., we can’t silence every troll, but we can stop them. When you encounter one, ignore, argue, block, or report.  [Share, what you'd do, in the comments.]  

Our ultimate aim is must be to keep this space respectful, and troll-free.

Tap on [Part 1] and [Part 2] for "Online Etiquette" series. Stay tuned for Part 4!

Online Etiquette (2): Trolls Trip on Their Own Tracks!

At a packed suburban railway station, someone

yelled, “The bridge is collapsing!” Panic erupted.  Stampede. Lives lost.  That reckless shout, even today echoes, not from platforms, but from screens.

The internet handed trolls a megaphone, but gave us a mute button that barely works.  What began as digital freedom has warped into a lawless free-for-all, where the illusion of anonymity fuels lies, abuse, and confusion.  Decency and dignity bleed out in the aftermath.

The Delusion of Digital Invisibility

Trolls hide behind three dangerous delusions: that they’re invisible, that cruelty passes for wit, and that abuse equals entertainment.  But the mask is tissue-thin.  Digital footprints left in typing patterns, IP trails, metadata, and social links betray every illusion of invisibility.  Every click, every login, every keystroke is a breadcrumb, investigators can follow home.

The damage is devastating and real.  Fake news has sparked lynchings and crashed markets.  Memes disguise hate as humor.  Doctored images shatter innocent lives.  Anonymous harassment campaigns push victims to despair, sometimes even suicide.  Each venomous keystroke leaves lasting scars on real human beings.

Breaking the Cycle

So how do we stop the chaos?  Not with outrage that feeds the beast.  Instead, starve trolls with silence.  Unfollow, block, report.  Amplify voices that build rather than destroy.  Curate your feeds toward sanity and substance.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: anonymity is a cracked mirror, reflecting who you are when you think no one’s watching.  Trolls forget, but the internet never forgives, and rarely misses.  Digital stones often boomerang back as investigations, lawsuits, courtroom summons, or social ostracism.

The Path Forward

Type as if your future self is watching.  Every message you post, becomes part of your permanent record, discoverable by family, employers, investigators, and algorithms designed to connect the dots.

This series will update you: perfect privacy is dead, but realness? That’s bulletproof.

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Online Etiquette (1): The Myth of Online Anonymity

Once upon a time, staying anonymous took skill and nerve.  People forged handwriting, mailed letters from far-off places, or whispered through payphones in squeaky voices.  Old-school spy stuff!  Fun to imagine, easy to crack.

Now... forget it.  The digital world’s a glass house.  Every click, swipe, and scroll leaves a glowing trail.  It doesn’t just say where you are; it screams who you are and what you’re doing.

Yes, privacy tools exist: VPNs, encrypted browsers, even the dark web.  But like sunglasses, they shield your eyes, but won’t make you invisible.

Still, trolls spew crude, vulgar comments, convinced usernames and device settings conceal their identities.  Whistleblowers leak secrets, trusting their digital masks will hold.  Both are mistaken.  The internet misses nothing; it takes just seconds to unmask you.

Your phone quietly tattles on your location.  Your ISP logs every connection.  AI pieces together your identity from crumbs you didn’t know you dropped.  Your devices carry fingerprints as unique as DNA.  One lazy login, one slip... and you’re tracked, exposed, and indexed.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: online anonymity is a fairy tale.  Every search, like, and share builds a pattern.  Machine learning connects the dots before you even log out.

So ask yourself: why hide unless you have something to conceal?  In a world where masks crack, authenticity is the sharpest weapon.  Stand by your ideas.  Own your words.  If you’re going to leave a trail - and you certainly will - make it worth following.

This series will update you: perfect privacy is dead, but realness? That’s bulletproof.

Love (3): The Force That Holds Us Together

Your grandmother waited for years before marriage.  She married a stranger and learned to love him.  You swipe left before someone even finishes saying hello.

Love is no longer a script passed down through generations.  The old way was simple: meet through family, and marry for life.  That page has turned.

Today, love is experiment and rebellion.  In some places, couples cohabit unmarried. Elsewhere, it's punished for crossing boundaries of caste, creed, or theocracy. 

"Till death do us part" has become "as long as this works."  60% of young adults now prioritize personal growth over marriage, asking: Can we love without losing ourselves?

Beyond Romance:

Without love, we're capable of anything.  With it, we're capable of everything.  But love was never just about romance.  The deeper question isn't who you're with.  It's whether you still believe people deserve care. 

Every act of violence begins when love runs dry.  Every cruelty starts when we stop seeing another as human.  Every war ignites when we forget, we belong to each other.

Universal love is the stranger who helps us up, the quiet force that keeps a fractured world from falling apart.  It's what makes us human and keeps us humane.

The Heartbeat of Life:

Why do we love at all?  Because isolation kills faster than disease.  Because hope needs someone to share it with. Because love is what keeps us alive and connected - like the mother who waits up, the partner who forgives, the neighbor who checks in, the stranger who smiles.

Your Choice:

In this fractured age, universal love isn't automatic.  It's a conscious choice to see, to care, and to stay soft in a hardening world. Romantic love may stir the heart. Universal love holds it steady.

The real question: 

In a world losing faith, will you still choose to love, care, and share?

  ▶️ (Click here for Love - Part 1) ◀️

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"Darkness can­not dri­ve out dark­ness; only light can do that. Hate can­not dri­ve out hate; only love can do that.” 

- The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

LOVE (2) —"Forever Is a Fairytale"

Remember the man from Part 1?  Here’s what happened next:

He buys red roses from a florist outside the shop, quietly places them on her car’s rear seat, and hides behind a lamp post to watch.  Minutes later, she comes out.  The moment she gets into the car, she starts rearranging her shopping bags.  Without even a glance, she flings the flowers out.  A passing bus runs over them😢

Sometimes, “forever” is just a fairytale.  Yet we chase love like fools with selective amnesia.  We carry people in our hearts for decades, while they’ve long moved on.

A teenager’s dizzy infatuation?  An adult’s quiet devotion? Or a seventy year-old’s mellow companionship?  Whatever, love always returns us to the same question: Why?

Society sells us grand endings.  But real love lives in the quiet spaces - in the ex who taught us boundaries, in the moments we stayed when we had every reason to leave.

Love is a choice that whispers forever, while the fine print murmurs: “as long as you make me feel heroic.”  Ego says, “I love how I feel when I love you.”  We call it “falling” in love—because no one teaches us how to climb back out.

The Paradox

Lust thrives on dopamine - apps, flirty texts, the high of being wanted. It makes us feel invincible.

But love? Love is oxytocin’s quieter grip, the one that holds on when the thrill has left the room.

Science says passion fades in 18 to 24 months.  Most don’t make it past that curve.  Those who do, stumble upon love’s hidden truth: a quiet graduation - from lust to legacy.

The Fine Print

We vow forever, while ego quietly craves only the feeling.  Gatsby’s tragedy wasn’t that he loved Daisy.  It was that he refused to grow beyond her.

The Final Rule

The hand you held at sixteen may still warm your palm at sixty.  That “I love you” you once whispered, with your whole heart, still echoes in some quiet corner of time.

So love anyway.  Not because it lasts, but because it leaves something behind:  a softer heart, a sharper truth.

What remains isn’t the promise of forever, but the courage to begin again.

  ▶️ (Click here for Love - Part 1) ◀️

✍️ I’ve been writing. And ou’ve been reading.

It’s your turn to speak now.  🗣️ Click "Feedback" in the Navigation tab above or 📬 Click here

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        True love doesn’t stay—it keeps returning.