Why Online Communities Become Harmful, Viral Places

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of and or discussions of substance abuse. If you or someone you know needs support with this, contact SAMHSA or call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free and confidential 24/7 help.

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of and or discussions of self-harm. If you or someone you know needs support with this issue, help is available. You can text SH to 741741 to chat with someone or contact Self-Injury recovery & awareness (SIRA) to join a weekly virtual support peer group.

Being in an online community is supposed to be a warm, welcoming place to share experiences and find joy with others. So, why are they becoming such negative places?

How members have turned toxic

In many, people have put themselves in the spotlight, becoming an influencer, then doing bad things. In all communities, there are a lot of good people and some harmful people. But when negative people do something purposefully to harm others, others associate the community with bad actions. Almost every community has something about it that ruins the image for the rest of the fandom, like My Little Pony‘s Bronies or Furry’s Diaperfurs. A lot of the time, malicious people will join a fandom, enjoy it, and create a sub-community.

Extremism

A lot of the time, these members create a really negative space in the community, doing extreme things. And this isn’t an uncommon thing. Recently, it’s become a “pandemic” — influencing young people or “gullible” people to do horrible things for their own entertainment. Young people will be convinced to do weird things, just to gain the “approval” of the people surrounding them. Personally, I’ve seen people around me create shrines, or impersonate the character (Like Kenma Kozume from Haikyu!!) to become closer or even “one” with them.

Sadly, most people are doing this to escape their reality and trying to find a way to feel loved by someone. Negative people will go after these struggling people, using them as toys because they want something, from power to fulfillment. These people will do anything to get what they want. These people have even created slang for the people they’re using like lolcow’s (slang which stands for laughing cow and “milked” by internet users for entertainment).

The tragic story of Joshua Block

An example of a lolcow who was harmed by online users is Joshua Block, an autistic man who joined TikTok while exploring New York. He was encouraged by social media users to drink regularly, as they found it amusing and it gained him four million followers. Online users treated him like an experiment, manipulating a person into harming and changing himself into someone new just because he was “different.” He now has pancreatitis, may be facing charges from an altercation, and is still continuing to drink for his “fame” to this day.

How to prevent this…

With all this information, I want you to be as safe as possible when you’re in an online community. Some people will ask you to do uncomfortable things. I want you to ask yourself: Is this really worth it? Almost 100% of the time, it isn’t; so don’t do it! Also, if you can’t decide for yourself, get someone else that you trust to help you decide, like a trusted adult or professor or someone! Never send photos of your face or any of your body parts to anyone online! I cannot stress this enough. People will try to blackmail you or manipulate you with anything they can get from you, from anything personal you’ve told them to photos! Please, please, please, do not share anything that can hurt you in your professional career! It is the worst thing ever to not be hired due to people sabotaging you!