Eh, I still think people are generally pretty nice to each other. The problem is that when that same nice person goes online, they behave differently. The more time we spend online, the more impact that “alter ego” has on our “IRL” personality.
So what we need is more IRL connection, but we’re instead spending more and more time online.
That is just not true. Plenty of nice people online and plenty of assholes since before online was even a thing for the average person. In fact if anything it feels like those assholes from before are re-asserting themselves.
Is it though? I find myself being a lot more combative online and more agreeable in person. That separation of my actual identity and lack of physical repercussions really makes me more confrontational online.
That theory was mentioned often in the early 2000s when most people stilled used pseudonyms online but it has been debunked since then by the many people who feel perfectly fine spouting the same kind of hate on social media under their real name and sometimes even in video form.
Physical repercussions do not exist in the real world for anything but the most extreme of actions. If anything the culture of lying to each other’s face (a.k.a. being polite) and looking away when abuse happens makes abuse very common in the real world, just ask your average minority or retail worker.
If that’s the case, then I guess it’s just exposure to more people so you’re more likely to directly interact with a sick. I would be interested in some statistics showing that the incidence of cyber bullying and other forms of abuse are comparable to IRL abuse. It just seems incredibly plausible that people are more outspoken from behind a keyboard than IRL.
Eh, I still think people are generally pretty nice to each other. The problem is that when that same nice person goes online, they behave differently. The more time we spend online, the more impact that “alter ego” has on our “IRL” personality.
So what we need is more IRL connection, but we’re instead spending more and more time online.
That is just not true. Plenty of nice people online and plenty of assholes since before online was even a thing for the average person. In fact if anything it feels like those assholes from before are re-asserting themselves.
Is it though? I find myself being a lot more combative online and more agreeable in person. That separation of my actual identity and lack of physical repercussions really makes me more confrontational online.
That theory was mentioned often in the early 2000s when most people stilled used pseudonyms online but it has been debunked since then by the many people who feel perfectly fine spouting the same kind of hate on social media under their real name and sometimes even in video form.
Physical repercussions do not exist in the real world for anything but the most extreme of actions. If anything the culture of lying to each other’s face (a.k.a. being polite) and looking away when abuse happens makes abuse very common in the real world, just ask your average minority or retail worker.
If that’s the case, then I guess it’s just exposure to more people so you’re more likely to directly interact with a sick. I would be interested in some statistics showing that the incidence of cyber bullying and other forms of abuse are comparable to IRL abuse. It just seems incredibly plausible that people are more outspoken from behind a keyboard than IRL.