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To Troll or Not to Troll?

First, not talking about web-based plaguing people with words, memes and verbal jabs, because that's kid's-stuff, a foolish, nasty and often coward's game that surely has no place in a mature Christ-follower's repertoire of communication.


I could have titled this post To Scroll or Not to Scroll.


But in trolling I mean like in fishing or online phishing. In terms of water and catching fish trolling is one of many ways to do it by slowly dragging bait and hook behind a boat. On the web? Yup.


Online it's all about algorithms, AI and ultimately about the number of clicks, time spent on X, Y or Z all of which makes internet companies and their human assistants a serious load of money re. advertising, people sharing what they've discovered and even the stock markets involved in it all. We're all being tracked and scammed regularly for the money and power it brings 'em. No conspiracy theory here at all, just plain reality.


So what's that all have to do with trolling? Not just the loot, but in fact ever more loot and various other stuff like subtle or in-your-face advert for sales, soft then harder porn and the addictive quality of habitual scrolling.


Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life anyone? Now where did I read about that...


The other day I was scrolling, quite innocently in fact, and as I found rubbish I didn't want to see I blocked site after site. I do this in much social media over and over again. After about 10 minutes of it one popped up with a pretty lady wearing totally see-through lingerie which I promptly shut down. Now understand, I had been blocking lesser but in that genre "come-on" stuff for 10 minutes on that site. So they decided to hit me with something further down that road than I'd ever seen before in that social media platform. Arrrgggghhhh!


Three key points: 1. no matter how much I block stuff those very same sites keep coming up in my feed. Blocking (at least there) isn't the ongoing fix. (Facebook) 2. Every pause and my guess (only that, I'm not certain) possibly even to pause to block something means you've had or they think you have had some interest in it therefore more will come your way. 3. When I sometimes mindlessly scroll I'm trolling as in fishing just as you might clicking on a zillion tv channels, online video or other media sites which is telling them you're likely if not certainly interested in what you're seeing online.


Scrolling rhymes with trolling and in fact we are being trolled when we scroll.


The conclusion for me is two-fold:


I've mentioned in blog posts over the years that there are apps including web browsers that can be set up to dump all but words (zero graphics) which work on -most- but not all websites. I use them often on my phone and on tablets and such. See, they not only allow me to get news and weather without graphics, pop up adds and such, but very quickly to get what I came for and leave.


Secondly, intentional web use for me means knowing exactly what I need to study, research or who I wish to connect with -and that means I DON'T HAVE TO SCROLL or mindlessly buzz along through a zillion posts, some of which are designed to get or keep me on a hook, rip off my to-do list of far more important things, and waste my time, sometimes falling down a hole I didn't look for as I was exploring.


Sure, sometimes simply buzzing through a site will get you good, even great ideas and you'll find truly excellent stuff -but often that's just not the case, no?


So there you have it. Intentional connections are one thing... but that's really not how the lion's share of money and market value is created -especially in most social media.


As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn

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