Grieving mum’s troll hell

A SOCIAL media expert has hit out at internet trolls who have attacked a grieving mum just five days after her toddler died.

Internet trolls lashed out at the vulnerable Gold Coast woman shortly after she lost her two-year-old daughter, Evie, who drowned in a backyard pool.

The story, which was shared on the Bulletin Facebook page, attracted close to 300 comments, with friends and family offering support and condolences.

But responses also included hate comments.

Supporters close to the family said Evie’s mother was “in a world of hurt” after reading the spiteful comments.

The cyber-bullying case fol- lows a similar story in 2015 when a Pacific Pines mother was blamed for her four-yearold son’s death in a backyard pool.

Last year, she opened up about being bombarded with messages blaming her for not watching her son, and told how she was forced to sell her family home.

The woman declined to comment yesterday, saying she couldn’t face the “social media crucifixion” again and refused to re-enter the social media world after being tormented.

Social media expert Dr Stephen Holden, of Bond University, said perpetrators trolled for a “perverted pleasure”.

“It is hard to know why people do this but some people actually find pleasure in wallowing in people’s pain and inflicting pain on to people,” he said. Dr Holden said negative personality traits and a forum to be negative gave internet trolls their opportunity.

“Everyone has nasty thoughts sometimes but we just don’t say them out loud because we know it will hurt people and there will be consequences,’’ he said.

“We live in a world where it is inappropriate to say nasty, hurtful things to people’s faces.

“But on the internet it is very different. There are rarely any consequences.”

Dr Holden described the trolling phenomenon as “gossip gone nuts”.

“We lose our sense of community online and people don’t care who you are or how it affects you. They will just spray whatever they want,” he said.

“If the people who threw nasty comments at that Gold Coast mum actually took five minutes to think about what she is going through and what it would be like to be in her shoes as a mother who has just lost her child, maybe they wouldn’t post horrific comments.

“It’s the price we pay to Google anything in the world.”

Dr Holden said cyber-bullying was not limited to children, but was thriving among adults.

“This woman is going through a deeply personal experience and these people don’t care at all,’’ he said.

“They are simply adding to her heartbreak and all I can say is, that woman is very tough.”

Dr Holden said the mother needed to turn off social media and shut the trolls out. “If you try to engage with them you sink to their level. This woman can rise above this,” he said.