The dehumanization of people on the internet.

[Sir derp sariff]

I think this is a big issue with the cyber bullying and all, ok write something about Michael Bay- your opinion, now imagine saying the same thing to him in front of his face looking him in the eye. The point is, people want to be heard and for that they take things to the extreme and the lack of feedback means not knowing when to stop. By feedback I mean facial expressions, tone, words, body language etc. A real human being would have those- Not a thing on the internet.

We see people as entities and not living, breathing, 'feeling' human beings, just like you and me. In fact saying rude things and being an overall jerk is accepted as being normal for an internet commentator. Maybe lack of maturity is a cause too, where kids don't have a sense of responsibility, or cause we naturally feel entitled to it. But I think if everyone could see the result of the things they have said people would be much more careful about what to say.

I even googled this and nothing came up but some incident about Gwenith paltrow angering the masses, and I found what she said to be kind of true, I've quoted that here.

Spoiler

"The Internet is an amazing opportunity, socially. We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on earth ? to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self, But the Internet also allows us the opportunity to project outward our hatred, our jealousy. It's culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It's culturally acceptable to say, 'I'm just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.'"

The "Iron Man 3" star said that our culture "is trying to wrestle with the idea that everybody has a voice, and how it's unimportant and really important at the same time." She compared it to being in a "very adolescent phase" in which people are unable to figure out why certain things matter to them or why they have opinions about something like "Angelina Jolie's operation" (Her example, not ours.)

"You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it's a very dehumanizing thing. It's almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it," she said. "My hope is, as we get out of it, we'll reach the next level of conscience."

Despite that, the actress said she's been able to move on from vitriol she gets online, noting that it's taken her a long time to be able to get past what people say about her and "not take it as a personal affront and a hurt."

"I see myself as a chalkboard or a whiteboard or a screen, and someone is just putting up their own projection on it," she said. "It has nothing to do with me. They have an internal object, and they're putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, 'Wow this is an interesting social experiment.' You're talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. It can only be projection."

What is your opinion on this, do you think this is a real issue? and if yes, What do you think is the cause of it?

side note: I may not be able to reply for a long time since I keep losing my posting rights for some reason.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I believe many people are dicks online and may use it as a means to bully others, but the majority are decent human beings and say things that are either nice or at least not dickish (and so these individuals don't stand out in our minds as much as the dicks do).

I worked in retail for six years, it feels kind of like that. I interacted with more customers a day than I cared to count, and for the most part, things were uneventful, but then I get that one customer and suddenly it felt like all the customers were bad.

Combine that with a lack of overly happy people[footnote]I'm not saying they were sad, but just content, said thank you and went on their way[/footnote] to balance things out and the bad weighs heavier on the job (internet) satisfaction.

Also, because body language and tone can't be properly conveyed through text, some people might not even be trying to be dicks, but still come across that way.

 

[Glongpre]

Hmm, that was pretty spot on. I didn't expect that from her.

I was thinking on this earlier in a way, in terms of our evolution as a species. I forget where I first read this, I think it was a philosopher, but he thought that our evolution physically would only go so far (we have reached that with the brain), and that the next step is mental.

It seems to me that we are engaging in mental evolution as we speak. It started with racial issues, and now we are bringing sexuality into it. We are thinking on subjects that were once taboo. Our thinking is becoming more welcoming, more peaceful. I think this is the next step in our evolution, to get out of this animal thinking of superiority and dominance and ego. We no longer have to fight to be the top of the food chain, we no longer have to fight to live.

I think, as she says, we are in the middle of it, in the adolescent phase. Change does not happen without resistance. I can't imagine what the human race will be like in 100 years. I don't think it will be as Orwell thought.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Reading the OP's post, it reminded me of a while back when there was a thread commenting on Rhianna Pratchett's writing and she actually came in to comment. She was remarkably cool about it, particularly considering how some of the people in the thread were being absolute dickheads. I remember her last post quoting someone and saying "Comments like these are exactly why you don't see more developers chatting in forums."

If I remember correctly, TotalBiscuit also stopped by once in a thread about him. It's something that I don't think a lot of people think about, that when you're talking on the internet you're speaking publicly where everyone can see. All it requires is the person you're insulting to follow a link and see everything you're saying about them. I've been making efforts to be respectful about my criticisms of public figures, but it's so easy to slip up and forget.

 

[Something Amyss]

I believe many people are dicks online and may use it as a means to bully others, but the majority are decent human beings and say things that are either nice or at least not dickish (and so these individuals don't stand out in our minds as much as the dicks do).

It's been said by people smarter than me that you're only truly yourself when nobody's looking, or words to those effect. I think a similar effect happens on the internet, in that without constraints of identity or any meaningful penalties, you are, perhaps, more true to yourself.

If the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory applies to you, for example, you were probably already an asshole, penned in by the constraints of society. But yes, you see people who are actually kind and caring on the internet.

...let's scorn them!

 

[LetalisK]

snip

I would say the only thing wrong with this is that the Internet did not cause this. All it did was give everybody a megaphone for the shit they were already saying and doing behind someone's back. Correction: I do think it has created the "behind someone's back" effect even though you're talking to someone "face to face" over text. So in that sense, yeah, it is different. Edit2: Then again, I dunno. I don't know if there were a lot of shitty exchanges via newspaper editorial responses back in the day or what. Screw it, I'll go back to my original theory.

 

[visiblenoise]

Well...it can be a good thing. I like how dealing with this phenomenon has impacted my personality. I'm more cautious in what I say, yet I've learned to really mean what I say when I say it, and all the while I've learned to not take anything so seriously (such as being made fun of for saying something stupid).

 

[Ambient_Malice]

The internet allows us to distance ourselves from our actions. It allows us to view the people sitting next to us with the same malice and fear once reserved for the scary blue eyed white people. (Insert your own cultural boogieman here.)

 

[Tsaba]

Your always going to have obstacles in your life. Don't let those who have no direct control over your life effect it.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Your always going to have obstacles in your life. Don't let those who have no direct control over your life effect it.

Meanwhile, in real life, with people who are not robots...

OT: Yeah, I would think it is. I think a good chunk of it simply has to do with the abstraction of communicating through text. Looking at someone while you are talking to them does matter. So does body language, tone of voice, posture, hell, even smell. Those don't really come through in text, so it is more difficult for us to connect with the person behind the text. Text alone really doesn't communicate all the things we associate with people.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Of course it's an issue, but I think just about everyone is going to deal with it differently, and typically not in the best of ways. I don't think that it's only that we forget that those who have the fortune (or misfortune) to be famous are human themselves. The internet only makes it easier to look at a group, determine you disagree with them, and dismiss it as a whole regardless of whether there are amicable and attentive people in it as well. And it is, of course, impossible for everyone to get along.

 

[Kolby Jack]

You really gotta teach yourself not to take anything people say on the internet too seriously. Like, if some dude in Kansas calls me a moron over the internet, I'm never going to meet that guy in real life. Why should anything he says to me in that setting make a difference? Maybe he says something nice or profound, okay sure, take that to heart. But if all he's doing is trying to hurt you or be dismissive of you, why should you care? If a friend or someone in my family insults me, I know I've fucked up. If someone with absolutely no context about who I am or what I've done insults me, then... whatever. It doesn't mean anything.

This of course only really applies to you if you have any worthwhile amount of self-awareness. If you aren't self-aware enough to be comfortable with who you are, or to know you're a total dickhead, then maybe you SHOULD listen to that random guy saying you're an asshole.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I'd argue this isn't unique to the internet. In general, people view other humans that they do not know less as humans and more as just numbers or the members of some evil organization out to get them.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Dunno...yes, it makes logical sense, but then again, you have lots of people who aren't afraid of publicly being a tosser. Lots of people get cyber-bullied, but the lots of people get bullied IRL, not sure why there must be a difference.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Dunno...yes, it makes logical sense, but then again, you have lots of people who aren't afraid of publicly being a tosser. Lots of people get cyber-bullied, but the lots of people get bullied IRL, not sure why there must be a difference.

You make a good point here, as others have, but I think I can expand some on it.

Basically most people view people they don't know more as things, rather than other people, so in person for many people that makes it easy to be a raging jerk. There are also people who take small issues they have with others, then inflate them to absurd proportions, allowing them to act like massive raging jerks towards people they absolutely hate. Then you have the underlying nastiness people tend to have in them, where they'll say horrendous stuff behind someone's back, but never to that person's face.

Now you take the internet, which is basically a megaphone where people can spout their horrible thoughts, opinions, and hatreds to others on a mass scale. Add to that that it can easily be done anonymously... You get quite a few people who take all of that and use it as an excuse to vent any and all vitriol they have in themselves, in the most toxic way you can imagine. Because basically people are still suspicious, hateful, fearful, and self centered creatures. So when offered an anonymous, consequence-free platform to spew their negativity, it's really no surprise that many people will spout the worst things they can think of.

It has nothing to do with celebrity, or projection, and everything to do with feeling powerful over others in some way.

 

[Creator002]

We see people as entities and not living, breathing, 'feeling' human beings, just like you and me.

I think this is a normal, to a point, way of thinking. We don't see other people as people if we don't know them. When I hear that 15+ people were killed in a shooting, I don't start bawling my eyes out and being grief-stricken for days. I might think "that's terrible" then never think about it again unless reminded. Family and friends on the other hand...

For those who want to miss the point because my example is too extreme, change it to "someone dies."

But I think if everyone could see the result of the things they have said people would be much more careful about what to say.

Probably, but just the knowledge of the results (cyber-bullying -> death/poor mental health) would stop any normal thinking mature person. Children and teens are generally excepted in this case and act like humans are animated mannequins because they're, y'know, children. Death often doesn't carry a great impact if they've never experienced it in some way.

 

[MeatMachine]

Over the internet, it is very easy to interpret others more as characters than... you know, actual people. When you mostly get nothing but text, it quickly becomes natural to feel like you are interacting with a fictional entity, rather than an actual human being.

Here's a question though - what do you think plays a bigger factor in people restraining themselves from poor behavior: perceiving their audience (seeing/hearing them), or BEING perceived and observed?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Internet forums are slums. They can be fun, vibrant, challenging and exciting slums, but they are still slums.

"Slums" is a good description.

Personally, I go with "Bathroom graffiti", because that's how seriously I take everyone's posts until they prove to me they're worth more (or if I'm bored enough to blather on at great length).

Incidentally, I apply that standard to social media; I'd never put pictures of my self up in a public restroom and/or vocalize my every stupid thought to gobs of random strangers either.

 

[Foolery]

If I remember correctly, TotalBiscuit also stopped by once in a thread about him.

He's been here a few times, actually. The most memorable visit being when Susan Arendt called him a 'bit of a whiny git'. Was quite hilarious to read.