[IfOnlyYouKnew]

This doesn't have much to do with "digital". Without the internet, these people might just set homeless people on fire.

It's some sort of cultural phenomenon. FTA:

> As to why they're doing it, well, this has been their entire culture for years, picking random innocent people to cyberbully past the breaking point.

From these low-lives to the highest reaches of government, you see people gleefully, and without shame, engaging in cruelty for entertainment. It's decadent, hollow, (self-)destructive.

What would help? No idea... I'd think a bit of philosophy in school might actually help: Stoicism and the like at least model the concept of thinking about purpose and emotions. The other side is probably social.

[SamBam]

I disagree. I think there's absolutely something about the anonymity of the internet that leads to many people (particularly kids, but everyone) being worse versions of themselves. They are free to engage in their worst impulses, both without fear of social retribution, and without humanizing the person on the other end.

I'm sure that many of these trolls have friends and family in the real world who would never expect this kind of behavior.