Parental trolling – what is it? Experts warn

When adults show themselves in social media, it's their business, but when they show their children, ridiculing them and publicizing embarrassing situations to increase their interest in themselves, they are parental trolling. Scientists from the Jagiellonian University looked at the phenomenon. Material of the magazine “Poland and the world”. The whole edition is available on TVN24 GO.

For adults, a situation in which someone scares a child may seem funny, but not everyone in this situation is laughing. On the internet you can find a lot of videos showing the so -called parental trolling – a variety of shareing.

Dr. Zuzanna Sury from the Institute of Pedagogy of the Jagiellonian University explains that this phenomenon consists in sharing content on the Internet with images of children in situations uncomfortable, ridiculous, depicting them, depicting them, for example in a situation of emotional crises.

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And this phenomenon and its consequences were examined by scientists from the Jagiellonian University. – It seems that nothing happened. It seems that this is not physical violence, but let's consider whether this is not some emotional violence – explains Zuzanna Sury.

Parents can talk about praising children or to conjure up parenting – for example, in the case of profiles that deal with family life, but what about popularity?

– It can be seen that some materials are simply specially inspired by parents to, for example, become a hero on a popular profile that will provide this material for others – indicates Magdalena Bigaj from the Digital Citizenship Institute.

Scientists warn against treating children objectively

Dr. Konrad Ciesiołkiewicz from Korczak's university in Warsaw admits that if the case concerned adults, we would not have such dilemmas. – We would immediately take protective actions because this applies to children. They are often treated objectively as an element of adult property – he notes.

Because if something goes to the internet, it can be beyond anyone's control. – Even half of the materials in so -called pedophile environments come directly from parents who do not know what they are doing – notes Ciesiołkiewicz.

There are many threats resulting from publications on the Internet. – Increased probability of peer violence, various types of psychological dysfunctions, consisting in stigmatizing in the social environment, but also the entire young generation deprives in some sense the right to tell the history of life in the way they want to tell them – says Ciesiołkiewicz.

Cyber ​​security expert Mateusz Chrobok says that it is important to make parents aware that whatever they throw into the internet, their child will have to face it.

– It must be clearly said that these are pathological situations and we are dealing here with patoparenting – believes Magdalena Bigaj. Zuzanna Sury, in turn, indicates that the more ridiculing children is made, the more “it becomes normal for us, that the child is the subject of entertainment for adults.”