This is probably the root of a fair amount of Twitter problems. People use Twitter to say things as if they were speaking to their friends in person but things like tone, facial expression, and general body language are not available to provide context. Perhaps a side effect of this conflict will be a greater awareness of the differences between in-person communication and mass communication over the Internet. I certainly hope people are learning that.Glen Compton said:
On a bit of a tangent, I wonder if this might also be an inherent divide between extraverts and introverts. As an introvert, I spend a lot of time thinking about what to say compared to the amount of time I actually spend speaking. This works well on the Internet, where I can take time to think through my responses and there isn't some awkward social rule that makes it weird to reply to something hours after it's been said. For an extravert, they're used to saying things at a faster pace and moving the conversation along... not so much to thinking about what they say. They speak here as they speak offline and it doesn't translate well.
I don't say this to excuse the things that they say. There are differences between something said in-person with close friends and something posted on the Internet and a wise person would learn to be mindful of those differences. I do think people are well within their rights to get angry when someone makes an unacceptable remark in a flippant way. I just think it's important to be mindful of things like this rather than letting oneself get blinded by the idea of righteous vindication.
