The way someone presents themselves online can be very different from their everyday persona.

Social media anonymity can unleash a “Mr. Hyde” side, fueling troll-like cruel behavior.

The double life online risks normalizing cruelty and distorting personal identity perceptions.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that social media use can lead to negative mental health consequences. As reported by the Stanford Law School, “A systematic review found that the use of social networking sites is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.”

One negative aspect of social media that we are probably all familiar with is the “troll.” This refers to a person who posts negative comments, spewing out invectives, bigotry, and intolerance. The troll launches this hostility anonymously under the cover of the non-face-to-face setting of the internet. We can only imagine what they look like and how they behave in real life.

The problem of the troll illuminates a recent phenomenon in our history—online personhood. Who we are in the real world might not be the version of ourselves that we present in the world of social media. Our online persona, for instance, might only post happy images of........

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