Is it even possible to completely avoid trolls and misinformation in today’s digital age?……Probably not.
Have you ever encountered an internet troll?
3 min readNov 16, 2020
After viewing this week’s readings and videos, I definitely learned a few things about how to spot misinformation and unreliable new sources, as well as the differences between trolling and internet abuse. Mike Caulfield’s videos were really informative on how to tell a source’s credibility, and I mostly learned how to fact check if a news source is reliable or not, by googling the news source and reading what other sources say about it. I should also fact check information in a source, if I am unsure if the source is fully reliable or not. This is important especially in today’s digital age, because a lot of misinformation and “fake news” spreads easily with digital tools, and it is important for myself and others to spot the difference. Another insight I gained from this week’s content, was learning the true definition of “trolling” and how it differs from actual internet abuse, consisting of abuses like stalking, harassments, and grooming. Knowing the difference between the two terms is important to distinguish, especially when it comes to digital literacy and being safe online.
I definitely have experienced online harassment and trolling on multiple occasions: whenever you put opinions or posts online, they are always subject to criticism and reactions. My recommendation for when this happens, is always to block the account that is harassing me, or even others, in any way. If blocking doesn’t work, and the harasser or troll makes multiple accounts, it is best to put your account settings in private (or do so in the first place), so only accounts you approve of can contact and interact with you online. Another thing to do, is to report the account that is acting abusive, so hopefully their behavior gets reprimanded, and they are no longer able to contact you or anyone else.
