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- Defending Against Mob Mentality
Happy Friday Wayfinder!
Over the last week, I've been talking about small world networks, confirmation bias, echo chambers, and even Indigenous Incan Socialism.
Today, I'm going to wrap up this week's theme with "mob mentality" and how to guard against it when dealing with online communities as a business.
This morning, there was actually a tweet from a friend (Evan Hamilton) perfectly highlighting how easily manipulated groups can become via platforms such as Twitter.
We HAVE to stop having collective panics about things that aren't really trends; in many cases, it's actually making them worse.
— Evan Hamilton (@evanhamilton)
Sep 23, 2022
But why does this seem to happen so much? Let's dig in.
What is mob mentality?
According to Merriam-Webster, mob mentality (also known as "herd mentality") is the "tendency of the people in a group to think and behave in ways that conform with others rather than as individuals." The first recorded use of the term was in 1920.
Why is it an issue?
As demonstrated in the tweet and graphic above, one action can cause an entire group of people to go in a particular direction (even if wrong) without realizing it. Depending on the individuals involved, or the culture present, there's an interesting effect groups have on individual psychology.
In 1972, social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term "group think" (yet another synonym for mob/herd mentality), which describes when group members fail to think for themselves or act independently because they're so close-knit.
I experienced this myself once upon a time, in my own family. We valued family so highly (an influence of my Polynesian heritage) that we failed to see when we were enabling bad behavior amongst each other.
It took some family trauma, a Western education, and general maturity, to finally see things for what they were - dysfunctionality. Only after seeing our blindspots, were we able to address the underlying issues.
Defending against mob mentality
"The overall intensity of this negative event [COVID] is one current generations have never experienced," Kent added. "When you couple this with the additional and simultaneous negative event of skyrocketing unemployment, you have the perfect brew for an escalating collective negative mood. This is what spurs trolling. It is a grotesquely cathartic individual level response to the negative feelings produced by an event(s). I say grotesquely in that relief or pleasure is gained by victimizing and harassing another for their difference in opinion or feeling."
In Issue #102, I spoke about small-world networks and their pros/cons. The above Forbes quote is about the rise of trolls on social media - the downside to small-world networks that have developed toxic cultures.
If you've ever experienced trolling, you'll know what it's like.
But since it's part of my day-to-day business to deal with such groups - especially in the "crypto" space - I've learned a few things or two dealing with them. Below are some great tips and resources:
At the end of the day, these behaviors exist with or without technology. But because of the connectedness of the Internet, the speed at which we communicate, and the anonymity that it enables, people can troll and bully without repercussions (although, this is starting to change).
So just like people used to learn physical self-defense, the online realm requires mental and emotional self-defense. Because digital battles are non-physical, we have to develop new ways to combat and prepare.
We can reduce such behaviors online, but we'll never completely be rid of them.
Have you ever experienced trolls online before? How have you reacted? What would you do differently knowing what you know now?
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