What Can We Really Do About Trolling?

It is a depressing fact that women with opinions on social media tend to have a much worse time than men, and the Ted talk we watched yesterday about social media trolling got me thinking about how we should deal with this.

It's hard to tell what the best response to trolls on the internet is. A counter-strike? Or silence? Steph Guthrie argues for the "don't feed the trolls" approach, and she makes a very valid argument. Through social media, we can become more connected than ever and join forces against bigots and misogynists and the like.

That being said, I can't help but wonder how much that backlash actually affects certain world views and the people that hold them. The guy that created that horrible interactive virtual game to beat up the woman obviously had not changed his opinions even after all the social media activity surrounding Guthrie's posts about his gross behavior. I don't mean to sound cynical. I'm not a feminist--obviously, I still find the threats and comments that Guthrie received horrifying--but I don't know if even the power of social media can change misogynist views like that man's.

I think it depends on the situation what sort of response (or lack thereof) would be best to deal with any type of online bullying or threats. There were people who went to my high school that I used to be Facebook friends with who posted racist or just ignorant statuses, and it got to the point where I realized that I had no idea why I was still Facebook friends with them when every one of their comments just made me angry. In that case, I knew I wasn't going to start an argument over Facebook, so I just de-friended them and that was that. Social media serves as a strong tool that can help people realize how many others are behind them in support, like Guthrie, but it makes me wonder what real change that can make in the world. I think there are always going to be people out there who hold ignorant and backwards views, and there isn't much we can do about that except take their comments with a grain of salt and focus on the rest of the morally sound world.