On Online Trolling and Negativity: Voices Lost to Trolling

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan recently said that online trolling makes him feel bad. "You put in so much effort—months, sometimes years of hard work—and then someone who hasn't even seen the film or understands the context decides to say something purely negative,” he told The Times of India in an interview ahead of “Sitaare Zameen Par” release. He added that trolling is neither feedback nor criticism but utter negativity based on bias or agenda. If an actor of his stature is not spared, we can only imagine what young people who enter the social media world with a big dream of building a career out of it go through. Many could be unprepared to face unseen challenges, including toxic negativity and trolling. And internet users have not been kind to content creators, influencers and artistes from Nagaland. Interestingly, musicians from the state seem to be more welcoming in other states. At least that’s what audience responses during their shows indicate, and it is often reflected in their performance on stage. Hence, they are frequently invited to perform in neighbouring states like Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and beyond. Back on the home turf, many of them are put under microscopic scrutiny. Artistes often come under severe troll for doing cover songs (particularly in vernacular language) by unfairly comparing them to the originals, or if they repeatedly perform certain songs or frequently appear at events, overlooking the fact that it is organisers who usually take these calls, including the choice of songs, based on popular demand. Is this a case of contempt breeding out of familiarity or utter jealousy?

Unfortunately, what we see today is a swarm of internet users coming in droves to pass negative comments against certain artistes, YouTubers and influencers on social media posts they could conveniently ignore if they are not interested. Trolls choose to pass judgement on people and matters they have little knowledge about and intentionally provoke and harass others to incite negative reactions by hiding behind fake accounts. This anti-social online behaviour may appear harmless, but it can have severe repercussions on young people and adults alike, including emotional distress, depression, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). No wonder many content creators choose to give up their once dream career. While the ideal approach to dealing with negativity and trolling is choosing to avoid engagement with trolls, ignore negative comments and focus on the positive ones, we can’t expect everyone to be the same. But what we should know is that the best tool to silence the trolls is consistent hard work, which many content creators have done. We can also take inspiration from Amir Khan’s assertion that trolling and negativity on social media don't affect his films at the box office.