I think the answer is a little bit of both. People just don’t talk to one another in person like they do online. In person, people are empathetic and understanding. Online, people lose that empathy and sometimes say some really awful things. I don’t know if they say these things because the internet is making society as a whole more mean, or if that truly is the way they felt and now feel they have the freedom to express themselves. The internet is the vehicle being used to deliver hate filled messages and comments, but if people didn’t honestly mean what they write why would they write it at all?
In this article, Alan Manevitz, M.D., a clinical psychiatrist says “There’s a freedom of speech without a fear of consequences. There’s no inhibition. It’s like being drunk.” It’s a lot easier to speak your mind when there is no one standing directly in front of you because there’s no physical consequences from your words.
Another perk of not having the person there as you talk about them is the lack of non-verbal cues. This article quoted Amanda Gardener saying “The majority of communication is non-verbal, composed of body language, eye contact, speech tone and language patterns.” Face-to-face, these cues give us some sort of filter because, like I said before, we are more empathetic. Without these cues, we are more likely to say things that are hurtful.
A major factor in the way people talk online is the anonymity factor. When no one knows who you are, it is much easier to say exactly what is on your mind with no real thought to the consequences. It is so easy to get fake accounts on social media that are not tied directly to you, and people do this all the time. You could sign in to each account and post mean comments from all of them to stir up trouble.
Lots of people follow the crowd, so if there are a lot of people bullying one person, more people are bound to jump on the band wagon. There is strength in numbers, and when someone sees that a lot of other people are saying what they want to say, he has a certain confidence that prompts him to say things as well.
I don’t think the internet is to blame for this societal change we are experiencing, but it is being used by people who already felt this way to begin with. Lack of consequences and anonymity are just two small factors that lead to the way people are today.
Sources:
Gardener, Amanda. "Troll Psychology: Why People Are So Mean on the Internet." Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health. N.p., 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Roberts, Jeff. "Why Are People So Mean? Has The Internet Destroyed Empathy & Compassion?" CollectiveEvolution RSS. N.p., 08 May 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
