Key points

Online spaces can act as "ecologies of extremism," amplifying vulnerabilities.

Trauma, mental health issues, social adversity, and digital environments can drive radicalization.

Parents, educators, professionals, and media can all play a role in combating extremism.

By better understanding young shooters and the factors that influence the propensity to commit these crimes, we may be able to reduce the incidence of mass shootings . This post focuses on factors unique to the online ecosystems that many young people, especially young men, inhabit.

While there isn’t a universally accepted definition of a “mass shooting," roughly following The Violence Project and other researchers, I use three criteria: four or more fatalities; occurs in a public location; and is unrelated

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