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Every Thursday at 8pm, I go outside my house, blow a whistle, clap, hit a frying pan for the NHS and smile meaningfully at my neighbours. We all look at each other with what people like to call Blitz Spirit.

I think that translates as, we never normally talk to each other except to bitch about binmen and Thames Water but were in this together now.

All over the globe, a community spirit has transformed a normally cynical, individualistic world. We are all suffering the miserable and terrifying consequences of Covid-19 and, for most of us, this has suddenly imbued us with a sense of collective responsibility in real life. A bit of - you know- niceness.

But is this trickling online? Has a pandemic forced humanity to clean up its digital act? Just as we are living in a new normal, it looks like the internet is experiencing its own readjustment, reaching its own new normal. And it might be .dare we say it.nicer? The internet- maybe, just maybe- getting a bit of its own blitz spirit.

It couldnt come fast enough as - thanks to this pandemic - our URL lives have become our IRL lives.

Because, as much as we love the internet, here are some hard truths about it. Twinned with our day-to-day dependency, has long been the dark side; ugly trolling, hatred spreading fast and unchecked online, from bullying to cancel culture. Its facilitated everything from the rise of terrorism and the alt-Right, to the myriad editing filters that have proven the catalyst for negative body image.

But dont just take it from me. The founder of the internet, Sir Tim Berners Lee, earlier this year claimed that his creation had become an unsafe space for many.

In an open letter, published on his own Web Foundation site on the 12 March to mark the 31st birthday of the internet, he said: The world has made important progress on gender equality thanks to the unceasing drive of committed champions everywhere. But I am seriously concerned that online harms facing women and girls especially those of colour, from LGBTQ+ communities and other marginalised groups threaten that progress.

The data to back this up is depressing. Since 2010, the year that birthed instagram, depressive symptoms in girls have risen by 170%. A survey by Berners-Lees own Web Foundation, showed that more than half of young women have experienced violence online, including sexual harassment, threatening messages and having private images shared without consent. A government survey from 2019, showed that 1 in 4 adults in the UK have experienced some form of cyberbullying.

But The New York Timess tech columnist Kevin Roose, said the internet had during the crisis of the last few months, become better. He called it pro-social, meaning it was actually being used for many of the wonderful things it was originally intended for, as opposed to just a tool for online nastiness and trolling, which he claims has diminished. Connection- that great promise of social media- has never felt more vital than it does now. Think how many of us are relying on the internet now, to let us see our friends and family.

A sliver of light has slipped into our online world. Much like the reports weve seen of nature fighting back at this time, the ducks seen by the Opera in Paris - once a traffic-clogged thoroughfare- and the goats wandering through villages in Wales. So too has this pandemic perhaps dimmed the noise of ugly voices clogging up the internet, and allowed a little kindness to creep in.

The new normal of the internet may be one where the severity of Covid-19 and its threat to our very existence has made the dark side of the internet go quiet. It has encouraged the trolls to slither back under their rocks, bringing a more benevolent side to the surface.

Our social conversations are dominated largely by messages of hope and love at a terrifying time. Humour and compassion have largely overridden snark and meanness. Anyone tempted to troll or message negatively, may well be too daunted by the new online climate to even try. Trolling was never big, nor was it clever, but it seems even smaller and stupider now, when faced with the enormity of the global situation.

Instead, people are thirsty for positivity. Memes, which rely on accepted, shared truisms for their humour, have never had so much potency. The Mindy Kaling meme from The Office Its just some of us are taking this seriously sums up exactly how we feel when we see people still having parties. The Sex and the City Movie meme, of Carrie (as 2020) beating Big (us) with her wedding bouquet, is pretty much how we feel this year has treated us. This is a golden time for the comedic community spirit of the online world, in which memes are our choice weapon against misery and boredom.

Good news stories, like singing from balconies and the heroic Colonel Tom, are dominating our feeds. Campaigns and fundraisers are now ubiquitous. We are using the online world to help, not harm. The sense of a greater evil at work - Covid-19 - of a united empathy for each other at this time- seems to have quieted the trolls.

Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award says they have noticed a surge of positivity, particularly among millennials and Gen Z online.

Young people are facing monumental changes in their lives right now and in the long-term they are likely to be one of the biggest victims of this crisis. Despite this, The Diana Award has seen a surge of positivity online, she says, Our recent research proves this with nearly three quarters (70%) of these generations saying they are more engaged than ever with social and community action and its a high priority for them. Its heartening to see millennials and Gen Z meeting online to discuss their work, inspire others and share the positive and negative experiences theyve encountered on their mission to change the world.

What we are seeing creeping in, is a brief chink of light, a snapshot of how the internet should and could be...but there are still unpleasant vestiges or the internets former mean streak.

Charlotte, 22, is a student and feminist activist. A lot of her tweets are- naturally- battling misogyny and promoting gender equality. This has long made her a target for online trolls.

I spend a lot of my time online- on twitter especially, she says, While on the whole I have seen a downturn in trolling, in people being mean for no reason, I still receive the same level of backlash for anything I post that is feminist.

How does she account for that?

I think the internet has definitely become a bit more level. The people who only occasionally troll, are now only engaging positively online. But the people who were always really devoted trolls, the really angry ones, they still have all the time in the world- maybe even more so now- to spew hatred online.

Last week, a feminist tweet of Charlottes had her engaging in a twitter beef with thirty trolls.

That is pretty much the same level as I would normally get, she says, Once a hardcore misogynist, always a hardcore misogynist, pandemic or no pandemic.

Ive seen trans activists I follow online still receive their fair share of pointless, ignorant internet hatred. The youre ugly or youre not a real woman variety. I have seen celebrities I follow still receive backlash- even of the non Corona variety (more on this later)- and Ive been shocked to see the online argument over whether Karen is a racist slur against white women, actually picking up traction at this time, and not in a constructive academic way either...

Pandemic or not, discourse online is clearly still combative. But what I have seen, is that the nature of this online anger, has largely been Coronavirus related.

Many influencers and celebrities have found themselves with targets on their backs at this time. The worrying #Guillotine2020 hashtag- referencing the overthrow of the rich and powerful during the French Revolution- has gone viral online with tens of thousands of tags and counting. When Jennifer Lopez complained about not going to a restaurant and instead eating in her massive garden with a pool- one person replied on twitter we all hate you.

American influencer Arielle Charnas found herself in the middle of a social media hate storm after a truly awful sequence of events that she -naturally- published all over her social media to her 1.3m followers. After testing positive for Covid-19 (a test she procured- many say-dubiously) she then travelled to her second home, with her nanny and family, and posted images of her going for daily walks- all within her supposed quarantined period. The backlash was severe, with many trolling her online as a covidiot and truly selfish arsehole. Arielle was forced to tearfully apologise in an emotional video on instagram.

Where once we followed them precisely for their lavish, escapist lifestyles, those mansions, second homes, yachts and privilege are now proving major sticking points in a time of global crisis, when many are forced to self-isolate in one bed flats or refuge centres. Their self-isolation ivory towers are suddenly super unrelatable and making people extremely angry.

I ask influencer Katis Snooks, who boasts a following of 74k, if she has seen a reduction or increase in trolling at this time.

Though I am normally lucky to have a wonderful following online who are supportive and don't bully me, I feel I have actually experienced more trolling and negativity during Coronavirus, she says, I feel more pressure to say the right thing, the risk of offending people is higher and people have more free time to be judgemental towards me and my content.

She agrees that the divisions in society at this time- between those privileged to be isolated in big houses and those struggling to survive- has been the main fuel of this online anger. Influencers and their perceived privilege, have become targets for this fury.

Ive been feeling that whatever I do, people will still pick what Im doing apart and that I cant really do anything right without judgement; people have opposing views and arent afraid to voice them and tell me Im doing things wrong, she says, I get negative DM's if I order a food delivery, but I also get judgement for going to a supermarket - so I can't really win either way.

The potential of the internet as a forum for debate - healthy or otherwise - is therefore clearly still alive and kicking. The pandemic has not vanquished the trolls for good, rescued the princess and made the internet a utopia of pleasantries. But now, just as most of our news is consumed with the virus, so is online backlash and discord - reserved for those who cut holes in masks, protest lockdowns or hoard toilet paper.

The angry twitter rants and insta stories I see are mostly Corona-related. They focus on the lockdown protests, the people breaking social distancing rules, the people boasting about their smug isolation locations. People are still angry online, it's just this online fury seems to have taken a completely different direction. Its not as pointless, mean and indiscriminately hateful as it once was.

Essentially, the youre ugly online comments may be decreasing, but the youre not social distancing comments are not.

Perhaps this sense of niceness online will only be temporary. Perhaps the length of lockdown will start to erode compassion and replace it with anger and frustration and those part-time trolls will begin anew.

Perhaps the internets fresh new attitude will only last as long as the pandemic and lockdown itself. But, like so many other things- from finance to friendship, this pandemic has proven itself a mammoth priority shifter and let us hope the lessons we learnt being nice online, the moment we had blitz spirit on the internet..will long outlast Covid-19.

Link:
How Coronavirus Silenced The Trolls - GLAMOUR UK