My opinion on social media has never really been in doubt if you’ve read me for very long. While it has great capabilities to bring people together and inspire change, it is also easy to exploit by the lowest common denominator. That’s why Saturday is almost always social-media-free for me so I have at least one day a week where the toxicity is negligible.

Whether it’s a general comment board, a publication website, or the many social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), there are always trolls trying their worst to disrupt any attempt at productive discussion.

And again, for the people who continue to believe (or at least relentlessly claim) that I define a troll as anyone who disagrees with me … sigh.

I use the same definition as countless online dictionaries and guides such as How-To Geek, which says, “An Internet troll is someone who makes intentionally inflammatory, rude, or upsetting statements online to elicit strong emotional responses in people or to steer the conversation off-topic. They can come in many forms. Most trolls do this for their own amusement, but other forms of trolling are done to push a specific agenda.”

Gosh, I’ve never seen that. (Sarcasm, people.)

Want to talk about the problem of too many guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them? Say hello to the Second Amendment absolutists who refuse to believe that part of conservative icon Antonin Scalia’s ruling in Heller v. D.C. explained that, though owning a gun is legal, the amendment isn’t unlimited (just like the other amendments) and the government can place limits on the right to bear arms (through things like universal background checks and red-flag laws). But sure, the big, bad government is going to take away all your guns, which is why you need to buy more because you can clearly take on trained military with better weapons. Just ignore that the government hasn’t been taking away guns, and gun lobbyists and manufacturers have been raking in the dough based on their fearmongering. And definitely ignore the fact that the same people who extol the “freedom” of earlier days when people could do what they want whenever they want are generally the ones advocating looser gun laws and “hardening” of schools, churches, stores, etc., against active shooters. Uh … pretty sure there are no “soft” targets left.

Want to ferret out the reasonable view on abortion (i.e., what the majority believe, which is that it should remain safe and legal till the viability threshold, with life and health of the mother excepted after that point, and excepted at any legal point for rape or incest)? Yeah, no, you’re going to have to deal with those who believe that people are aborting willy-nilly in late pregnancy for birth control (I’m betting the people who believe that haven’t been pregnant), up to and even after birth (uh, that’s illegal, and called infanticide; they’re intentionally conflating palliative care for infants unlikely to live more than a few hours with “post-birth” abortion, which isn’t a thing).

And Lord help you if you bring up same-sex marriage or transgender people having the same rights as everyone else, that women belong in the pulpit, or that taking any action now against climate change is preferable to waiting for everyone to pull their weight and do the same (or that taking care of the planet is part of the Christian mission).

Heck, I’ve seen Facebook groups devoted to things like comics, cats, and grocery stores devolve into political cesspools. Like I needed another reason to dislike politics and the way nothing is safe from it anymore.

Further on trolls, How-To Geek says, “It can sometimes become difficult to tell the difference between a troll and someone who just genuinely wants to argue about a topic. However, here are a few tell-tale signs that someone is actively trolling.

• Off-topic remarks: Completely going off-topic from the subject at hand. This is done to annoy and disrupt other posters.
• Refusal to acknowledge evidence: Even when presented with hard, cold facts, they ignore this and pretend like they never saw it.
• Dismissive, condescending tone: An early indicator of a troll was that they would ask an angry responder, “Why you mad, bro?” This is a method done to provoke someone even more, as a way of dismissing their argument altogether.
• Use of unrelated images or memes: They reply to others with memes, images, and gifs. This is especially true if done in response to a very long text post.
• Seeming obliviousness: They seem oblivious that most people are in disagreement with them. Also, trolls rarely get mad or provoked.

“The list above is by no means definitive. There are a lot of other ways to identify that someone is trolling. Generally, if someone seems disingenuous, uninterested in a real discussion, and provocative on purpose, they’re likely an Internet troll.”

The trolls on the newspaper’s website have definitely got those first three down cold, especially the “refusal to acknowledge evidence” one. They prefer to make up their own.

I’m cautiously optimistic for Threads, Meta’s new platform similar to Twitter (though it needs a lot of work to make it truly usable, like an actual Internet site rather than just an app; it seems you can see specific accounts online, but not a home feed like on the app, and you can’t interact). So far from what I’ve seen, while there are a few outliers (Moms4Liberty, for one, who got the response they probably weren’t expecting to a post about things that don’t belong in schools; they didn’t read the room), most people seem to be congenial and polite to each other, and actually interested in constructive conversation. Granted, my Threads feed is very similar to my Instagram feed (I’m WhispererOfCats there and on Threads, but I haven’t posted in way too long), which is largely responsible news organizations, recipes, animals, science and history, but my blood pressure has been stable every time I’ve checked it.

(One of my favorite new follows is Openly Gay Animals [hold your indignation; think happy], a brand that celebrates the bond between humans and their pets, and posts adorable videos of animals. It’s impossible not to smile when watching a video of an itty-bitty bunny eating grapes, penguins walking at five-times speed, or an otter getting some paw rubs from accommodating visitors to the zoo.)

There are, of course, accounts trafficking in rude humor, politics, and other undesirable things for many people’s feeds, but that’s going to happen on any social media platform. That’s what the “block” button is for.

Twitter, on the other hand, despite my following of more positive accounts (I don’t rely on social media for news, nor should anyone), is almost unfailingly a horror show. Though it seems the advent of Twitter Blue has made trolls easier to spot and block, there are always those flying under the radar. (I’ve never tried to be verified on any of my social media accounts, and I’m sure not going to pay for it.) There’s a reason I rarely post anything there.

On Facebook, we not only get trolls and politics in unwelcome places, but spammers and scammers infesting any public post (my posts are mostly friends only; generally the only public posts I make are Voices letter and column requests). While it can be fun occasionally to mess with scammers, who tend to pose as widowers, doctors and active military on overseas assignments, when you’re a nice person at heart, it just feels wrong … even though that account was just created a few days prior and the only friends it has are people who also appear to be fake. Oooh, and look at that! Twenty-plus photos were posted the same day in separate entries. Nothing suspicious about that at all …

Then again, a friend and former co-worker got her first spammer/scammer on Threads the other day. They’re everywhere!

If we really need social media, I’m all for a platform that places value on authenticity and reasonableness in discussions and keeps hyperpartisan politics, trolling and deliberately provocative behavior at bay. Is it Threads? That remains to be seen.

Even if it is, will that make me post more on social media? Probably not.