I find it interesting that as someone who lives a good chunk of their life on social media and the Internet, I always find myself sort of bashing it. One of the reasons I think social media is bad for us is because of how people behave or express themselves. Having spent too much time online, I would say I’ve seen pretty much everything, picked up patterns, and noticed behaviors from people on these platforms just as i’m sure most of you have as well. It’s nothing shocking to see arguments/fights take place on social media and platforms from youtube to Facebook and anything in that nature. So then I ask myself, what is it that is making these people express themselves so angrily towards one another?

There’s an idea that I’m sure most are familiar with in one way or another and that is that people gain this testicular fortitude when they hop behind a screen and type away. I believe this in some way applies to everyone from internet trolls, who live to argue or “troll” others, to people who don’t care about arguments but might step in to get their quick one liner.

The internet has made it easy for anyone to express themselves online, so I ask myself, should we be expressing everything just because we can? Self awareness is something that I think rational people have. Self awareness to stop themselves from posting idiotic things or behaving poorly on the internet. But on the other hand the internet has become a playground for people who pick arguments and behave poorly toward others. I’ve always said this that the internet has both good uses and bad uses and it really depends on the person and how they choose to use this tool.How the internet created an age of rage is an article that can be found on The Guardians website and this article does well in explaining the behaviors of people who troll or leave unflattering comments. 

“The psychologists call it “deindividuation”. It’s what happens when social norms are withdrawn because identities are concealed.”

I believe that the line above is a solid definition of Deindividuation that also works in respects to the internet. One of the examples used in the article is one I’m sure we can relate to or at least have seen and is in road rage. Sometimes a person you wouldn’t expect to be confrontational can get upset and start shouting things at other drivers because they feel protected in a car and they’re safe. In this case it would be the internet trolls and people who like to argue and start up problems that find benefit in saying what they feel because they feel protected behind a screen. 

I personally don’t believe there is a solution to this except for trying to pay it no mind. People don’t really change and sometimes arguing back over a computer will not satisfy the mood you might find yourself in.  I may not have any solutions to offer but Imagine if someone else did. It would be even crazier if it were like the Black Mirror episode Hated in the Nation. Perhaps we shouldn’t take the internet so seriously?

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/25/politics/donald-trump-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court/index.html