Schaden (“damage/harm”) and Freude (“joy”) – the pleasure derived from someone else’s misfortune. Individuals with lower self-esteem tend to experience Schadenfreude more frequently and intensely. Schadenfreude finds a fertile ground in the world of social media. Here’s how: Interacting through the screens of our phones and laptops can sometimes lead to a sense of detachment and often dehumanization. Dehumanization makes it easier to justify acts of violence against a group – shown as less than human, inflicting harm upon them is often perceived as more acceptable. Historical events like the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide are extreme examples where dehumanization led to mass violence and systematic killings. On a smaller scale, dehumanization can lead to acts of bullying, domestic violence, and other forms of personal aggression. This is how dehumanization works: • Using derogatory terms or labels to describe a group, which strips them of individuality and humanity. • Spreading false or exaggerated information to create a negative image of a group. • Generalizing negative traits to an entire group, ignoring individual differences. • Treating people as objects or commodities rather than as human beings with feelings and rights. Dehumanization is liberally fuelled on ‘WhatsApp’ mostly by ‘Forwarded’ and Forwarded many times’ messages. On platforms like Twitter and Telegram, users freely express satisfaction or mockery over the hardships and violence faced by Palestinians, others do the same for the Israelis. The same goes on between Russians and Ukrainians and even within many other nations and societies. Also, the ‘comment sections’ in news items, reports and articles become echo chambers of Schadenfreude, where users amplify each other’s enjoyment of misfortune. Many internet memes and jokes revolve around the concept of Schadenfreude, highlighting the human tendency to laugh at others’ expense …..… in the final count it leads to debauchery and disorder in addition to sadistic pleasure, often celebratory. This behaviour results from the fact that people feel less accountable for their words and actions on the social media …… they forget that there is a real person on the other side of the screen, with his/her own feelings and experiences, why force something distasteful on him/her. Ironically with prominent ‘Role Models’ choosing the path of Schadenfreude, empathy and compassion have become lost words this century. Additionally, latest technology like automated bots are used to spread this hate, or joy at others pain or misfortune using well paid pseudonymous sites regaling in their anonymity and physical distance. Aggression-based Schadenfreude primarily involves group identity. The joy of sharing the suffering and failures of others is used as a prop to represent an improvement or validation of their own group without having achieved NOTHING themselves. What better example than the ‘Vigilante Groups’ supported by regimes to impose aggression base Schadenfreude. The groups specialise in violence, celebrate violence, do nothing productive and simply ride the cycle of violence to impress communities and make money our seek political gains for their heinous acts. Seeing others fail can temporarily boost self-esteem, it can also create a sense of bonding among users who enjoy the same content. In the final count it however leads to enhanced degradation of societal norms. Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer mentioned Schadenfreude as the most evil sin of human feeling, famously saying “To feel envy is human, to savour Schadenfreude is diabolic”. “Diabolic” is a powerful word, often used to describe something extremely evil or wicked. Importantly – Schadenfreude is steadily becoming a more popular word according to Google. So, in addition to a legacy of environmental destruction, the current generation is leaving behind something more sinister ….. or ….. diabolic!