Time of the Trolls

People had countless questions — and hardly any answers.
Back then, the discipline that creates knowledge simply didn’t exist. It is called science. 
So imagination had to fill in the blanks.
After all, curious minds were always considered a nuisance —
especially by those clinging to power.

And perhaps it was during those dark ages
that the first mystical creatures were imagined.
No blueprints existed for their shape or spirit,
so the descriptions of trolls were as wild as the people who told them.

Like Homo sapiens, trolls survived.
For a long time, they stayed hidden —
lurking in the subconscious shadows.
But they never truly disappeared.
And then came their renaissance:
the Internet.

Or, more precisely: social media.
That’s where the rhetoricians of modern politics
brought them back to life —
and business has been booming ever since.

These new trolls are slicker, faster,
and far better equipped than their cave-dwelling ancestors.
They’ve evolved.
They learn. They adapt.
And yes — they’re armed.
Their weapons of choice? Algorithms.

No, those aren’t distant cousins of the trolls.
They’re the invisible strings they pull.

Originally, algorithms were created to make online experiences more personal —
to tailor the user journey, so to speak.
Who doesn’t remember those early shopping platforms proudly suggesting,
“You might also like…”?

Those were the innocent days.
Today, darker forces have hijacked the code.

Why?
Because trolls now use algorithms to build echo chambers —
digital mirrors that reflect only what we already believe.
They feed our biases,
and quietly kill the ability to learn from being wrong.

Their second trick is the theft and analysis of our personal data.
Basically, we’re lying on a psychiatrist’s couch
while scrolling through cyberspace.
Sigmund Freud would’ve loved that.

And the nastiest move of all?
Weaponizing algorithms to manipulate politics —
to flood the world with disinformation
and conspiracy theories disguised as truth.

Their success was undeniable during the pandemic.
How many friendships dissolved over vaccines,
lockdowns, or “new world order” theories?

Well done, dear trolls. Really well done.

What amazes me most, though,
are the machine trolls —
the automated accounts on Facebook, X and Instagram,
feeding our very human minds
with rhetorical junk food.

I’ve limited my social-media time to one hour a day —
just to make sure I don’t become one of them:
limited in critical thinking.

Bit by bit, I’m saying goodbye
to the machinery of division, distortion,
and the endless production of fear and hate.

That kind of rhetoric is toxic —
especially for a sensitive hippie soul.

So instead, I return to the good old book.
There, my imagination has space to breathe.
Books have no algorithms.
They’re just infinitely richer.

Let’s Make Reading Great Again.