Listen to Your Trolls
There, I hoped that title would get your attention!
So, Internet Trolls. Some of nastiest, sub-human lifeforms to ever use a keyboard. No matter what you do, there are always at least one or two of them who will give your business 1/5 stars; thumbs-down your Youtube videos; or write a scathing, all-caps, “THE ABSOLUTE WORST” Yelp review.
How do you deal with them? Most folks adopt a dismissive mentality: “ef” the haters, block them, don’t respond to them, just ignore them, pretend like they don’t exist. This approach DOES work to a certain degree, because a troll’s typical modus operandi is a “display of force”, and by ignoring them, their m.o. is rendered ineffective and chances are your troll will soon become bored. They want attention. They want to elicit a response from you. They want to bring both you and the conversation down to their level: under the bridge!
But is simply dismissing them the best way to deal with them? In my opinion, NO. Instead of dismissing them, listen to them first. While trolls may or may not be talented at much else, they are VERY good at finding your weak spots…your vulnerabilities. They want more than anything to find out how you tick, and use it against you. They are like drug dogs who can sniff out all of your mistakes no matter how well you hide them!
What I have discovered is that it is entirely possible to make this work in your favor. Like I said, they know your vulnerabilities like the back of their hand, very likely even more than you! In addition, sometimes we have weaknesses that we deny to ourselves that only a troll can discover and bring out. So if they know your weaknesses better than anyone, and if we are always trying to improve on our weaknesses, listen to what they have to say! Consider it. Maybe, as malicious as they are, they are right. And you can learn from them, use their criticisms constructively, and fix those weaknesses.
In other words, instead of simply dismissing them, CONSIDER their criticism. If they are objectively wrong, dismiss them. If they are actually right, take it with a grain of salt and improve.
No one likes trolls…not even trolls. But they have all of this bad energy…so use that energy and turn it into something positive.
This is a mentality that I have adopted recently in my own life, and I have literally found myself thanking them for finding the things about myself that I would otherwise never notice.
So instead of responding with anger, which fuels them….
Instead of ignoring them, which doesn’t affect them (they will get their kicks elsewhere!)…
Go ahead and consider if they are right….find the hidden gems of observation hidden in their fire-breathing rhetoric, and use them for your benefit.
They aren’t going anywhere, so let’s use them for the one thing they are good for!
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