NJIT's Julie Ancis Featured in New Documentary Exploring Social Media 'Vitriol'

Vitriol — it’s not hard to find anywhere you look across Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and elsewhere online. The growing dilemma of our polarizing online discourse is also now the subject of a new documentary set to hit film festivals, featuring NJIT Cyberpsychology Director Julie Ancis.

The film, Vitriol, explores the current state of vehement social media interactions from both sides of the political spectrum. Directed by Mark Clauburg (The Time In Between Seconds, The Girl Next Door), Vitriol makes its soft premiere in Jersey City Aug. 1, and is primed to make its official debut at film festivals in New York City later this year.  

Ancis was invited to join the project early in the film’s production in October last year — providing interview segments that touch on aspects of online psychology such as the “increasing conception of us vs. them,” which she says is at the root of widespread abusive exchanges on social media.

“I was drawn to Mark's desire to capture diverse attitudes and viewpoints on this important topic, including an academic perspective that grounds the project in psychological science,” said Ancis, who covers such topics frequently as the creator and author of Psychology Today’s cyberpsychology page. “There are many psychological mechanisms at play which perpetuate false information and simplistic conceptualizations of complex events such as those we've witnessed in the past year.

I wanted to convey to viewers the importance of understanding the ways in which echo chambers of information may result in increased divisiveness and reduced civil discourse with regard to important social and political issues.”

Clauburg says the 25-minute short film takes aim at the many faces of social media vitriol fueled by online anonymity — virtue signaling, toxic tribalism, fake news or misinformation and manipulated images designed to illicit retweets — all of which have escalated alongside moments of deep civil unrest throughout the pandemic, including George Floyd’s death, violent mob protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and state mandates as a reaction to COVID-19 and the current vaccine rollout.

Along with commentary from Ancis, the film includes interviews with media personalities and political figures such as political podcaster Michael Caldarise, producer and comedian Nina Kharoufeh, and former NJ gubernatorial candidate Joseph Rudy Rullo, with narration by Alexandru Aldea.

“The impetus for Vitriol started with my initial shock of seeing close friends and families ripped apart for their political differences and wanting to find out more about how social media leads us down this rabbit hole of cruelty online,” said Clauburg. “The concept of toxic tribalism interested me the most. 

“Over the past few years, I’ve found folks on both sides of the political spectrum to be more concerned with belonging to a group than dealing with the actual issues. With my personal opinions mostly removed from the film, the hope is to present engaging arguments from multiple perspectives.” 

Vitriol will screen during the 4:15 block on Sunday, Aug. 1 at Brightside Tavern, located at 141 Bright St., Jersey City. Tickets for the festival can be found here or purchased at the door.

For more about Vitriol, visit here.