Digital Trivializing

A digitallighting tactic where a target’s legitimate concerns, traumas, or experiences are minimized, mocked, or dismissed as overreactions. Abusers flood the target’s mentions with sarcastic comments (“oh no, so tragic”), post memes that ridicule the target’s distress, or claim that the target is “playing the victim.” The goal is to make the target feel that their pain is absurd, that they have no right to be upset, and that any response will only make them look foolish. Digital trivializing normalizes abuse by painting it as harmless fun.

Example: “When she spoke about the harassment she’d faced, the replies were filled with ‘first world problems’ and laughing emojis—digital trivializing, turning suffering into a punchline.”

Digital Trivializing by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 25, 2026