The Psychology of Internet Comments Sections

https://www.mediavsreality.com/mediavsre...f-assholes

This is something that I definitely need to remind myself of:

There are [b]6 [/b]main factors that encourage people to act far more negatively on the internet than they do in the real world:
[b]1. The Empathy Deficit [/b]
[b]2. Asynchronous Communication[/b]
[b]3. Lack of Authority[/b]
[b]4. Solipsistic Introjection[/b]
[b]5. Audience Size[/b]
[b]6. Likes, Comments, Follows, Shares [/b]

(1-4 are based on the online [b]disinhibition effect [/b]coined by Suler.J in 2004)

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Many people assume that the internet reveals the truth about how people really are. [b]This is false. [/b]As we’ve discovered here, the internet changes how people act. It doesn’t reveal how people really think. It changes how people think.

The internet isn’t a clear lens into the rest of the world. It’s a distorted lens. Because [b]technology isn’t neutral. [/b]

Text based communication may actually be the [b]worst possible communication medium[/b]. And yet this is our main global communication medium.

What is text based communication doing to our political dialogue? Our relationships? Our mental health?

Don’t get upset by the anger on the internet. Know that if everyone was standing in a room talking face to face they would act completely differently.

And not because they’re hiding their true feelings. But because they’re not communicating through the distorted filter of text based communication.

Another similar article can be found here on how the online media causes and/or contributes to anxiety and depression.

The most telling line in that article is this:

"As he picks up his pint of beer and starts to drink you notice something. 

Black ink on his fingertips. "

The significance is that all of the participants are as bad as one another. It's a game. Rather than trying to come up with a great response, we could choose not to play at all.