Young Shooters: Is There an Online “Ecology of 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 to gang violence, drug deals, or other criminal activity.

5 Key Facts About Mass Shooters

1. Mass shooters are disproportionately male.
2. The United States leads the developed world in the number of mass shootings, with 73 percent of all mass shootings in developed countries.
3. Shooters often experienced trauma in childhood and frequently expressed an emotional crisis before the shooting.
4. The shooters are often “insiders” who target locations they know: 88 percent of shooters in K-12 schools and 89 percent of college campus shooters were students or connected to the school or college.
5. While mass shooters have often experienced complex trauma, depression, or have other mental health challenges, emotional health factors are not the sole or even the most important factor driving their violence.

A complex interplay of individual vulnerabilities, social dynamics, and digital environments shapes the psychology of radicalization among young adults. There is strong evidence that online spaces act as amplifiers and facilitators—rather than sole causes—of radicalization, creating an “ecology of extremism" in which exposure, reinforcement, and group dynamics converge.

Patterns of Online Behavior That Seem to Amplify Risk

Research has identified at least three patterns of online behavior associated with increased risk:

• Online Socialization and Vulnerabilities. Young adults at risk often experience social dislocation (e.g., poor educational engagement), mental health issues, personal grievances, and exposure to radicalized networks. Active engagement with social media and online communities tends to facilitate radicalization, but is not a root cause of radicalization.
• Online Interactions That Feed Into Psychological Pathways. Radicalization is often driven by a combination of psychopathology, perceived injustice, social adversity (including victimization, online or offline), and a quest for significance or belonging. Online interactions that provide a feeling of importance or group identity can reinforce extremist narratives.
• Preference for Online Interactions. A preference for online over face-to-face socialization is linked to higher support for violent radicalization, especially among young adults with low social support, low self-esteem, and symptoms of depression.

Source: © 2025 Dr Fabiana Franco, All rights reserved.

Young people who spend large blocks of time inhabiting an online universe may be drawn into the “Ecology of Extremism.” This ecosystem is characterized by complex contagion, prolonged exposure to propaganda, and extensive misinformation.

• Complex Contagion: Extremist ideologies spread online through repeated exposure and reinforcement within overlapping digital communities. Social media and membership in an online community enhance the diffusion of radical ideas.
• Propaganda and Recruitment: Online propaganda can affect identity formation and behavioral mobilization. In many cases, extremist groups and individual bad actors strategically use online venues to exploit individual needs and vulnerabilities.
• Polarization and Misinformation: Online environments foster social polarization as young people spend increasing time in an “echo chamber.” They can normalize violence, increasing support for violent radicalization among vulnerable youth and young adults.

Key Factors in Online Radicalization of Young Adults

• Social adversity/dislocation can lead to vulnerability.
• Online social media use can lead to exposure and reinforcement of violent radicalization.
• Mental health challenges can lead to higher risk.
• Membership in radicalized groups or peer networks can lead to higher risk.
• Exposure to misinformation can lead to higher risk.

Research shows that prolonged periods online facilitate a dynamic “ecology of extremism” for young adults, as digital platforms amplify existing vulnerabilities and social grievance. This ecosystem spreads and reinforces radical ideologies that can lead to violent behaviors, such as mass shootings. Professionals, parents, educators, media professionals, and social influencers concerned about young people—especially young men—need to take a multidisciplinary approach to prevention.

There is no one solution to address the challenge. Better mental health support and reduced access to firearms are undoubtedly helpful, but are not a panacea. Prevention requires addressing both online and offline risk factors, fostering social support, and countering misinformation and polarization.

For parents, this means monitoring the online behavior of teens and even young adults who live at home. It may mean restricting the number of hours of online access, filtering extremist content, and taking other measures that may be necessary, even if they are not comfortable for parents unused to setting restrictive boundaries.

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For media professionals and social influencers, reducing media attention on perpetrators is difficult—it goes against all the rules of the attention economy—but it can make online ecosystems on social media less destructive for vulnerable young adults.

For educators, challenging the echo chamber that so many young people and so many adults live in can be transformative. This might mean requiring students to advocate, in a classroom or in a paper, for a position that is opposed to their own. It might mean exposing students in a class to a diversity of viewpoints from peers and adults. It might mean required reading or films that enable students to inhabit or at least empathize with the viewpoints of the “other.”