Why Is Everyone on the Internet So Angry (toward one another)? (Scientific American)
1. This is a year old but certainly still pertinent.2. Don't get me wrong, there are many reasons to be angry and outraged, but how people interact online is often times hateful and counterproductive.
3. I expect snark and hatefulness in response to this post, or maybe it will just sink into oblivion.
* * *
A perfect storm engenders online rudeness, including virtual anonymity and thus a lack of accountability, physical distance and the medium of writing
These days, online comments "are extraordinarily aggressive, without resolving anything," said Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. "At the end of it you can't possibly feel like anybody heard you. Having a strong emotional experience that doesn't resolve itself in any healthy way can't be a good thing."
<snip>
A perfect storm of factors come together to engender the rudeness and aggression seen in the comments' sections of Web pages, Markman said. First, commenters are often virtually anonymous, and thus, unaccountable for their rudeness. Second, they are at a distance from the target of their anger — be it the article they're commenting on or another comment on that article — and people tend to antagonize distant abstractions more easily than living, breathing interlocutors. Third, it's easier to be nasty in writing than in speech, hence the now somewhat outmoded practice of leaving angry notes (back when people used paper), Markman said. [Infographic: A Typical Day on the Internet]
And because comment-section discourses don't happen in real time, commenters can write lengthy monologues, which tend to entrench them in their extreme viewpoint. "When you're having a conversation in person, who actually gets to deliver a monologue except people in the movies? Even if you get angry, people are talking back and forth and so eventually you have to calm down and listen so you can have a conversation," Markman told Life's Little Mysteries.
Chiming in on comment threads may even give one a feeling of accomplishment, albeit a false one. "There is so much going on in our lives that it is hard to find time to get out and physically help a cause, which makes 'armchair activism' an enticing [proposition]," a blogger at Daily Kos opined in a July 23 article.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-is-everyone-on-the-internet-so-angry
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's fascinating to me what people get hung up on order to miss the point being made.
Really, simply fascinating.
Yet in most cases of extreme snark, I detect IMMENSE anger and bitterness beneath the surface.
I'm not a psychologist. Never played one on TV either.
But, as someone who enjoys conversation -- authentic conversation, with respectful back-and-forth rather than mere broadcasting...with people using various techniques to see who can broadcast the loudest -- I really find online interactions intriguing.
My observations over the last 15 years, with DU being no exception, support those in the article. Just my experience and opinion, of course.
fan the flames, so to speak, keeping us at one another's throats, for the precise reason you state: distraction.
They've accomplished that goal for a long time, that's for sure.
Good Night Folks!
Edit to add: Well, anonymous to one another, not the NSA or Booz Allen.
Maybe it isn't that the interactions are more vitriolic online than in person; maybe it's just that there is SO MUCH MORE interaction online. Sheer numbers.
Plus, a lot of times in the "real" world, a lot of the nastiness is said behind someone's back, not to their face; but it's being said nonetheless.
Anyway, thank you for this. Much appreciated. Well done.
Great stuff, hfojvt.
I suppose it's a matter of different personality types, too. And, maybe certain personality types are more inclined to engage online more than others.
For example, you wrote:
That may be true of a lot of people; I don't know. I do know that doesn't describe me. In fact, I'm just the opposite. That's probably why I created a Good News group here...lol (plug!).
Unless people have something constructive to add, I wish they'd be quiet, to be honest. That's one of the things that annoys me most about online spaces. A lot of people are more concerned about broadcasting their views -- often not in an intelligent way, just spewing forth some irrational diatribe or inserting a curt, snarky remark -- rather than contributing to a real conversation. (I'm not referring to this thread, btw; I invited humor with my intro in the OP.)
I guess this is a matter of perspective, too. Because of the general negative climate, kindness stands out to me, whereas animosity tends to blend with the other white noise. I notice the general atmosphere of attack but the specific attacks don't stick with me for some reason...lol. Weird, now that I think about it.
It's easy to spew vile remarks behind the internet. Most internet users are young and male. Therefore, I'm not that surprised that the teenage sons of two Senators were caught making highly inflammatory statements on Tweeter and other social sites. What I wonder is if these young guys truly believe the crap they write or is it the typical braggadocio of many young males. I've noticed that guys tend to do and say things in groups that they would never do or say when they are by themselves.
Personally, I treat the internet as a means of having a conversation with actual people. I never write anything I wouldn't say to a person if they were standing in front of me. But, there are many people who hide behind the anonymity that the medium gives them and say things they would never have the guts to say in person.
indeed
just kidding
Thanks, lumberjack_jeff. That's a new perspective for me.
for this insight and for the comment below.
without accountability and with anonymity we are terrible people
We've seen how vile people are on twitter and Facebook even when people KNOW who they really are.
And that young woman who ranted in Dunkin Donuts last week.
Just wow.
I'm not sure what to think about it all right now, to be honest. It's really disconcerting.
A lot of people feel they've "played by all the rules," but they are not getting what they were told they would, a good job, a secure retirement, generally, some kind of monetary payoff. We work more hours than the rest of the developed countries & most of us are one medical disaster away from financial ruin. Ten thousand of us show up for 50 jobs at McDonald's. 
As a country, I think we suffer badly from the "rugged individualist" mentality. Our sense of community is very exclusive, not inclusive. The internet has changed things, too. It's always easier to be a jerk to someone you aren't going to run into. It's easy to be a jerk anonymously, when people you know don't know what you said.
I won't even go into our cesspool of a culture that glorifies bad behavior, from the behavior of our entertainment stars, to our government officials, to people on "reality" TV. It all filters down & you end up with a general acceptance of lower standards of conduct everywhere.
I like the ones that have to get the last word in. I let them feel exceptional! 
