A simple observation on internet behavior: it doesn’t matter what you post, ask, or share online – you’ll always get some answers or feedback, but eventually, it turns into a mess and people start insulting each other. I sometimes wonder, why so much hate? Just move on… why is there a need to attack each other?
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The internet is currently using rage bait and anger to get people to interact. Add to that how polorising politics is getting due to people wanting us all to fall out and the extreme ends of the spectrum being made louder by the rage bait. Basically it means eveeyone online is pissed off and angry at others and think the worlds against them because their algorithm feeds them stuff just to make them angry, they click, they get another post similar. And so they dont see posts agreeing with them.
So kinda the opposite of it being a bubble… but its sorta worse.
Most people are simple…as in their interests and attention is single dimensional. Rap music- bad, country music- good. It takes self reflection and broad thinking to see past the surface.
Many of us desire to be on the winning team.
"My guys are good and winning."
Most people are so powerless and entitled in real life that an opinion that doesn’t stroke their ego instantly threatens their sense of superiority. When people who aren’t emotionally regulated feel threatened they attack. You’ll notice that it’s mostly passive-aggressive at first because it allows them an opportunity to dodge accountability.
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People have very little freedom and less all the time. Of course they’ll be upset when they turn up somewhere they think there is more to be had.
People are totally beset by oppressive, conformist, disciplinarian influences. Their whole life is defined by them, most likely. The internet is and always has been a coping mechanism, despite it having become increasingly defined by those same influences. That change in turn is noticed lately and pointed out by some people as though it were always an inherent feature rather than an acquired flaw. As an interesting aside, this is almost always presented as an argument for exacerbating said flaw; that is to say, as a critique of "social media" or as an argument for reformatting the internet in such and such a way. I’m sure such a reformatting wouldn’t just be the finalization of that change of the internet into just another set of highly regimented spaces /s/.
I think it’s social tribalism instincts that humanity has not outgrown. The internet was a friendlier place when communities were sectioned off into small bubbles of a a couple of hundred people at a time.
Now it’s strangers all over the world commenting their views, whether in good faith or bad, that makes us feel challenged constantly.
There used to be more of an online principle of "don’t feed the trolls" ..just don’t engage with those who are actively provoking people and not contributing to building constructive conversation. Just roll your eyes and move on.
Now it seems to be "feed the trolls the most" and that activity is accelerated by advertising rewarding engagement – the things that are most provocative receive most gut-reaction attention and algorithms make them the most visible.
People will feel validation if they can cause a person to become upset. Rage baiting is an addictive behavior that needs to be fed. A good deal of people commenting are just addicts who are looking to get their fix.
No consequences.
An hour ago, someone posted an inappropriately snarky reply to an inoffensive comment I made. I called it out, and then the user posted a profane retort and then deleted his post history. He goes on his merry way to do it all over again to someone else.
I think downvoting contributes to some of the ill will. I would love to see mods have the power to slow down the downvotes (I believe they have the power to turn it off completely but that’s a nuclear option).
Downvoting definitely has a place for comments that are hateful or that are clearly spreading misinformation but lately it seems that people use them for every comment they disagree with. That stifles conversation and generates ill will.
Some options for mods might include only allow individuals with a certain level of karma to downvote. They could limit the number of downvotes per individual per hour. Or they could set a ration between upvotes and downvotes like five-to-one or ten-to-one.
I’d very much like to see leaving a comment be a requirement for downvoting. I often see people getting downvoted for no apparent reason.
It’s fun. We love to do battle but not the consequences, this is a relatively harmless outlet. Used to be tribal wars, then gladiator games, then hooliganism, now all we do is troll. Scratches an itch.
May be a weird thing to compare it to, but it’s like driving.
We’re all right next to each other but don’t have an explicit read on the person and their intentions. So we assume the worst in people and get extremely angry over it. It’s why road rage happens.
Something very similar happens online, added on top of stuff like dead internet theory, you could be replying to a bot and frustrating yourself. All of that can make the experience frustrating for a lot of people.
I believe many folks treat online interaction as a video game. The other people are seen as less real or less human. So, other people become opponents who must be "defeated". I wish everyone would realize that all of this hatred and vitriol is killing our collective mental health.
One positive reason is that writing out your thoughts helps you think.
You hang on to some of those conclusions, or ways of thinking, or ways of saying things, and refer back to them, so you get better at thinking over time in many ways.
Some people just seem worth responding to, or I feel like I have something relevant to remark.
I figure it turns hateful because, well, lots of people are on their phones at all their low moments these days. Truly, how many of your most euphoric moments are spent online? And how often are you online at your lowest points?
Toss in some trolls. Sprinkle in bots that just echo whatever gets engagement.
And look where that gets ya!
Because people just want to be right. Most threads end up bad because someone either commented something they should’ve kept to themselves or people start arguing to prove each other wrong.
Also.. misery loves company. Sometimes you can just tell by a comment how miserable and chronically online someone is. They can’t stand to see someone be upvoted or given thumbs up for commenting something relevant or worthwhile, so they’ll attempt to destroy it to feel better about themselves.
Also.. humans.
I feel like it’s because real adulthood, common sense, decency, self-awareness, Etc., is going out the window.
In a time when your job, relationship and so on aren’t necessarily validating you–say you have neither–any kind of other acknowledgement will work. The more negativity you spout, the higher the chances you’ll appeal to fellow losers. They are everywhere–and usually can’t help one another any other way. It’s sad.
Soon, the internet will be all theirs.
I asked a football referees group a question about a rule and got called stupid and abused
Then I got banned because I didn’t ask a question about rules
The internet m
Many years ago (before the internet), my Dad taught me that being rude to someone over the telephone was easier than being rude to them in person.
I’ve never forgotten that, and I miss him.
I was just about to say that I was having a lovely conversation for once, but in the course of writing this OP has revealed themselves to be a toddler who cant take an ounce of criticism.
To put it simply, the internet allows us to give a more unadulterated version of what we see to be the truth, and sometimes that means it’s not always nice.