On a related front, the relative anonymity of electronic communication has emerged as a new factor that influences conflict, particularly in the generation of heated and unproductive electronic exchanges in Internet forums, in e-mails, and through social networking sites (Shachaf & Hara, 2010). Of course, people have long been able to provoke conflict anonymously—for example, prank phone calls were common in the days before caller ID. But the Internet has provided a vast arena for flaming—the posting of online messages that are deliberately hostile or insulting toward a particular individual. Such messages are usually intended only to provoke anger and can ignite flame wars between individuals when friendly, productive discussions give way to insults and aggression. In many cases, the root cause of these conflicts is not even a disagreement but one person’s misinterpretation of another’s message.

Flaming should be distinguished from trolling, which is the posting of provocative, offensive, and often false messages to forums or discussion boards in order to elicit from the participants a negative general reaction (Morrissey, 2010). Trolls often use their online anonymity to intentionally stir up conflict and create damage. In the online gaming community, they also purposely disrupt teamwork or try to ruin the gaming experience of others (Thacker & Griffiths, 2012). Research reveals that trolls are typically motivated by boredom, amusement, attention seeking, and revenge (Shachaf & Hara, 2010; Thacker & Griffiths, 2012).

Technological channels are also an arena for even more aggressive conflict behaviors, such as cyberbullying—abusive attacks on individual targets conducted through electronic channels (Erdur-Baker, 2010). Researchers point out that traditional face-to-face bullying, although highly unpleasant, is also extremely intimate, and victims can at least find some place or time of refuge. Cyberbullying, by contrast, makes use of text messages, e-mails, and social networking sites to deliver a nonstop stream of cruel messages or photos that may be visible to others for a long time (Patchin & Hinduja, 2011). The perpetrator may not even be known, and the torment can be difficult to escape (Dempsey, Sulkowski, Dempsey, & Storch, 2011). The problem has serious consequences, as victims often experience mental health problems such as depression, loneliness, and low self-esteem; drops in academic performance and loss of relationships with peers at school; and a host of negative emotions, including fear, anger, embarrassment, sadness, and guilt (see Dehue, 2013). An extreme consequence among teens and preteens is evidenced by the suicide of a twelve-year-old Florida girl, Rebecca Sedwick. After a dispute over a boy, a months-long barrage of negative messages ensued, such as “nobody cares about u” and “you seriously deserve to die” (Stapleton & Yan, 2013). Rebecca finally posted on Facebook, “I’m jumping. I can’t take it anymore,” and the next day she jumped to her death from a tower at a cement plant. Rebecca’s story initially even led law enforcement to consider stalking charges against the twelve-and fourteen-year-old “bullies” (Liston, 2013).

In some cases, cyberbullies—so empowered by their anonymity—entirely disregard expectations surrounding particular situational contexts. After seventeen-year-old Alexis Pilkington took her own life, her friends and family set up a Facebook memorial page to remember Alexis and to share their mutual grief. Sadly, alongside messages honoring this young woman’s life were lewd, hateful, and inappropriate messages indicating that Alexis “got what she deserved.” A family friend summarized the bullies’ attempt to create controversy and conflict in such an inappropriate time and space: “Children want to mourn their friend, and there are posts of photos with nooses around her neck. It’s disgusting and heartless” (Martinez, 2010, para. 6).