May 2025

Trolling Teens: Motivations, Survival Tips, And Effects

It’s no secret that young people are vulnerable given their brain doesn’t fully mature until they turn 25. Consequential thinking develops later in life according to psychologist and YouTuber Emma Kenny.

According to 2019 Headspace survey statistics, more than one in three young Australians has experienced online trolling. Fifty-three percent have been targeted by cyber bullies.  Cyberbullying and online trolling are both on the rise among young people – they are frequently grouped together, with trolling perceived as an example of cyberbullying behaviour. Despite this, there are key differences between the two:

Cyberbullying

• This involves somebody posting videos, comments, or other material on social media platforms to intentionally cause physical, emotional, or social distress. Cyberbullies have a specific victim in mind.
• As well as the bully and victim, there may be bystanders who are aware of the behaviour, but take no action, or upstanders who confront the bully and/or report the behaviour to trusted adults.

Examples of cyberbullying include:

• Using text or online messaging to intimidate victims.
• Stalking victims online
• Encouraging suicide online – UK serial killer Joanna Dennehy told former schoolfriend Marika that she would be better off dead and that she was willing to help her commit suicide.
• Image-based abuse i.e. posting nude or otherwise offensive photos of the victim online to damage their reputation.

Trolling

Trolls are attention seekers who prefer to hide their identity behind pseudonyms or screen avatars. Trolls cherish anonymity and will use platforms such as Snapchat where messages disappear after a certain amount of time. They intentionally start arguments or post nasty comments hoping to provoke a reaction.

• Trolls don’t have specific victims in mind.
• Many intend to cause harm, although they may downplay their actions as jokes, harmless fun, or simply retort that people need to toughen up.
• Their comments may include hateful, racist, sexist, or disrespectful speech. They often don’t even believe in what they post – young trolls in particular delight in reactions from strangers.
• They are known to spew insults in discussions.
• Trolls may hack into social media profiles to prank an individual or group of individuals e.g. teens hacked into a MySpace Memorial page and replaced the face of the victim with that of a zombie.

They also pasted his face into hard-core porn scenes, pranking his parents with phone calls, announcing: “Hi, this is Mitchell, I’m at the cemetery.”

• Trolls gang up on victims, by encouraging others to perpetrate similar abuse.
• Trolls frequently create multiple social media profiles to confuse people regarding their identity.
• They love drama and thrive on their ability to control and direct other people’s reactions and behaviour – they see themselves as puppet masters pulling strings.

Who Are the Trolls?

According to a 2023 University of Southern Queensland study involving over 150 teenagers between 13-18, trolls are more likely to be young men than young women. They typically have psychopathic traits. Around 25% of respondents had been trolled over the past year, whilst 13% engaged in trolling others. This behaviour of retaliation may be perceived as a way of regaining control after falling victim to similar online predators.

Professor Marilyn Campbell indicated that this study was just the beginning of in-depth research on adolescent trolling. Lead researchers for the project agreed that more needs to be done. Trolls have a simple pattern of behaviour:  deception, aggression, disruption, success. The key difference between trolling and cyberbullying is that trolling involves disruption of a community, whereas cyberbullying typically involves individual victims. Once trolls trigger others to retaliate, they have reached their goal.

How Trolling Affects Victims

Unsurprisingly, trolls make their victims fearful of going online and interacting with others. They cause frustration, anger, hurt, and distress. Opinion is divided on whether refusing to take the bait is ultimately effective – this may work, but sometimes trolls carry on regardless.

Fighting Trolls

How can parents, teachers, and friends advise young people who are affected?

• Talk openly about online habits and emphasising that what is published is permanent. Even after content is supposedly deleted, it can often be retrieved.
• Discuss the motivations trolls may have – what does the troll stand to gain and what is the best course of action in a given situation?
• What effects can your child’s post have on others? Is consent needed?
• Document/screenshot content sent by trolls, particularly when using apps like Snapchat where content can disappear after a certain time. Saving URLs also helps.
• Log out of social media, blocking profiles of harassing individuals.
• Remove social media apps from phones.
• Disable push notifications.
• Learn to recognise when trolling could lead to something more serious – parents Annie and Kim focused on creating an open relationship with their daughter Jess, frequently discussing the dangers of the Internet with her and how you can protect yourself. Jess felt confident enough to alert her parents to interactions with a violent online predator. Annie and Kim highlight the need for young people to feel confident that they won’t get into trouble when reporting. The support of family and friends is crucial to people coming forward.
• Restrict logins to specific times and locations e.g. at home in the evening, so you feel safe with family or friends nearby.
• Tell trusted adults.
• Attend school seminars on trolling with young people.
• Emphasise that serious abuse can be reported to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner.

To report successfully, you must:

• Keep copies of material to upload (photos or screenshots).
• Report malicious exchanges to the platform 48 hours before completing the form
• Gather information about location of troll if possible.
• Allow 15-20 minutes to complete the form.

Creating private groups with moderators to oversee access and interactions is the way to outsmart trolls if nothing else works.

Bibliography

“Cyberbullying in Australia: Statistics & Resources.” Edith Cowan University Blog. 25 May 2023.

“eSafety Submission to the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill.” Esafety Commissioner. Australian Government. January 2022.

“Navigating Hate Speech and Trolling - A Parent's Guide to Safeguarding Teens Online.” Western Australian Centre for Perinatal Mental Health & Parenting Support. Accessed 15 April 2025.

“Trolling.” Esafety Commissioner. Australian Government. Last updated 13 June 2024.

“What is trolling and how should you respond to it?” Headspace. Last updated 4 August 2022.

“Young online trolls want to cause chaos, not harm.” University of Southern Queensland. 17 April 2023.

ACSM_admin. “The Law on Cyber Bullying and Trolling.” Australian Cybersecurity Magazine. 28 April 2020.

Blake, Becky. “Beating The Trolls At Their Own Game.” Becky Blake Blog. Accessed 15 April 2025. 

Chen, David. “Young men, trolling victims more likely to become trolls themselves, study finds.” ABC News. 22 April 2023.

 Coulson, Justin. Happy Families. “5 Better Conversations To Have About Screens.” 27 January 2020.

Gorman, Ginger. “I've spoken to some of the world's worst trolls. Here's what can help keep your kids safe online.” ABC News. 24 September 2019.

Kenny, Emma. “A Woman’s Wrath: Decoding Joanna Dennehy’s Murderous Spree.” 20 November 2023.

Maguire, Lynette. “Bullying, cyberbullying and suicide – an evil blend.” New Generation: Are we a Nation of Narcissists?” Accessed 15 April 2025.

Marrington JZ, March E, Murray S, Jeffries C, Machin T, March S (2023) An exploration of trolling behaviours in Australian adolescents: An online survey. PLoS ONE 18(4): e0284378.

ReachOut Content Team. “How to spot a troll.” ReachOut. 5 September 2023.

ReachOut Content Team. “5 tips for dealing with online trolls.” ReachOut. 5 September 2023.