[C8]

It is probably not in dispute that politics is more venomous than ever before. There seems to be increasing evidence that social media leads to greater conflict and individual depression. Research out today seems to add to the drumbeat of negative effects:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... veals.html

New study shows that an hour a day on social media reduces kids' happiness
Girls suffer more 'adverse effects than boys' and feel less happy with appearance
Photographic media has also been linked to narcissism and social comparisons

of course websites like PO.com see incredible levels of hostility by those emboldened with their annonymous status and immune from seeing the humanity of the face they attack (one of the main reasons I frequent here infrequently)

So I am pondering a theory and want some feedback, here it is:

Social media use can gradually alter general social behavior- even in face to face encounters- such that it dehumanizes all aspects of social interaction.

How does this happen, what is the mechanism? I propose this line of logic:

1. Social interactions on the web are inherently dehumanizing b/c they abstract individuals by removing key elements of humanity (face, voice tone, situation)

2. Computer based interactions produce more powerful traumatic events such as a person being mass shamed, nationally embarrassed, personally attacked, etc. Even watching this happen to others is traumatic as the fear develops of being a possible target yourself.

3. Powerful trauma pushes the psyche into "flight or fight" mode in which survival is more important than compassion, logic, and humanity.

4. This trauma, plus the ubiquity of social media, means people are interacting on the web more than in person- when it comes to important emotional events.

5. Thus, the "default" mean behavior of the web starts to crowd out all behavior- even when in person.

I base this theory on the evidence I am seeing of the following events instigated via social media:
a. more flash crowd riots and looting
b. more mass fights in malls, streets, etc.
c. more vandalism against those who hold differing views

Many walk the streets, sit in classrooms, go to work, and stay at home with a virtual gang of fellow predators that they are in constant touch with.

Effects on society
If people are on the web getting depressed and angry- I can see where this could lead to total social breakdown. The glue that holds us together is our humanity. Computers dehumanize people to the point of violence, depression and suicide. There is no way around this dehumanization as computers must abstract people in order to transmit their words, faces, & situations efficiently and cheaply.

I believe that- left on its present course- the internet, (anti) social media, and ubiquity of computers in our lives could lead to mass upheaval and civilization decline where "survival of the fittest" becomes the dominant value of the land. The internet could become the vehicle for a breakdown of civilized society.

In any case, I am interested in your views

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'K')ids have always been cruel to each other. Perhaps social media tracks that cruelty better?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') base this theory on the evidence I am seeing of the following events instigated via social media:
a. more flash crowd riots and looting
b. more mass fights in malls, streets, etc.
c. more vandalism against those who hold differing views

[ROCKMAN]

Interesting thoughts. But is it a question of more nastiness or just a much bigger audience that can be reached with just a click? We all had an asshole or two in the neighbor when we grew up. Now our "neighborhood" has expanded thousands of times so we hear from many times more assholes.

It's like sex crimes: decades ago the MSM media didn't report nearly as many as we see today. So that many more sex crimes today or just more reporting of them?

[C8]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'I')nteresting thoughts. But is it a question of more nastiness or just a much bigger audience that can be reached with just a click? We all had an asshole or two in the neighbor when we grew up. Now our "neighborhood" has expanded thousands of times so we hear from many times more assholes.

It's like sex crimes: decades ago the MSM media didn't report nearly as many as we see today. So that many more sex crimes today or just more reporting of them?

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'K')ids have always been cruel to each other. Perhaps social media tracks that cruelty better?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') base this theory on the evidence I am seeing of the following events instigated via social media:
a. more flash crowd riots and looting
b. more mass fights in malls, streets, etc.
c. more vandalism against those who hold differing views

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('C8', '
')I am contending that today- our everyday interactions with each other are now under the power of the internet. We are no longer free to speak, free to ask difficult questions, free to associate- whatever. The online world now dictates behavior in the real world- and this is twisting human relations into dehumanized manipulations.

We are losing our human real world. The internet is colonizing it.

[SeaGypsy]

One thing I rate as a huge change. Recall the days of completely fact free conversation, idiots arguing bullshit? I remember such being the norm much of the time with most of the people. The ability to instantly cross check & reference billions of bits of information, to whatever degree of credibility, has changed the way people think, talk, communicate. The downside seems to be less creativity, originality. The upside is more ability to locate likeminded individuals & collectives, which can turn into a downside when the intent is severely antisocial.

[Newfie]

Marshall Mchulan researched media and came up with the global village. What he didn't foresee was the echo chamber where we would break apart into many millions of isolated villages. Just look at Peak Oil.
Neil Postman picked up on Mchulan and wrote Entertaining Ourselves to death which starts to lay out the trauma you are discussing.
More recently someone wrote a article on the ways News is Bad For You, which runs along these same lines.

So I agree with your general line of thought.

I would add this, that in our ff slave culture young folks don't have much to do to contribute to society. Into that vacume we introduce social media, and also hunter/killer games, zombie games. Do these games condition young folks to look at others as some deviant form of humanity that has no value and needs to be destroyed? Are we (unintentionally) training a new generation of warrior who will find fullfilment in killing "others"? Does that not sound a lot like what is going on in the Islamic world? If there then why not here? Black vs white vs Asian vs gay vs Christian vs Catholic vs whatever. Such behaviour is not very far in our Western Cultural past, why would it not be laying in our subconscious ripe for exploration?

[SeaGypsy]

It would seem that the 200 year experiment with the enlightenment peaked in the late 90's & we have been rapidly descending since. It has been normalized to see imagery last on display in the dark & middle ages- extreme brutality, snuff movies are now a mainstream propogandist tool- rare only 20 years ago, very black market, now easy to find daily updates of the new levels of depravity people are inventing.

[ralfy]

Peak oil will likely destroy both social media and industrial civilization.

[KaiserJeep]

You fellas sure took the ball and ran with it. I just can't stand it, this is about the sixth thread and the sixth reason for the world to end that has been posted here this week.

Every trend will not necessarily go to the bitter end, course corrections do occur.

PO.com, for example, is a moderated site, and abusive behavior and language are not tolerated. Just like my momma never tolerated such in her kids.

I think most people behave online as the do in real life. Some sick minority let their imaginations run wild online, and express themselves in ways that they dare not do in real life. They deserve pity, and not a like response.

If you spend a lot of time in social media, perhaps you should run a cost/benefit analysis. It has been 4 years since I last posted and over 9 months since I last read anybody else's page. Nothing missed, because there is no real content there.

[Zarquon]

I won't comment on po.com (or you'd all mob me), but take e.g. the comments section in pretty much any news site. If you assumed that the comments under most articles were representative for the public as a whole, the end of the world can't be very far away. There are those who can't write a simple sentence or don't even bother enough to try, those who apparently didn't even read the entire piece before ranting, those who didn't understand its most basic conclusions, those who feel a need to link everything to terrorism, and those with an urge to tell the world ten times a day how much they hate muslims and feminists. The majority of people doesn't have these problems, but you don't see that; you only see the mental minority.

Another problem, as mentioned above, is that is now entirely possible to live in a separate media bubble of your own choice, where everyone agrees with you that black is white, up is down and the moon is made of green cheese. Nobody in such a subculture questions these facts anymore. Just today I came across a US website selling "survival" gear. The comments section was the scariest thing I've seen in quite a while. It seems a lot of people there try to train their young children to hide from government killer drones when the godless decide to wipe out the few remaining patriots. That this day will come soon was an accepted fact.

[MD]

There is a real disconnect between anti-social media and real life. Us internet junkies saw it start with the chat rooms 25 years ago. The anonymity and facelessness of internet interaction allows an individual to release their inner demons safely and in ways never before available.

A deep callousness in our millennial generation is the result, which has spilled over into real life in ever increasing measure.

It's all very anti-social. We've unleashed a monster.

[C8]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'T')here is a real disconnect between anti-social media and real life. Us internet junkies saw it start with the chat rooms 25 years ago. The anonymity and facelessness of internet interaction allows an individual to release their inner demons safely and in ways never before available.

A deep callousness in our millennial generation is the result, which has spilled over into real life in ever increasing measure.

It's all very anti-social. We've unleashed a monster.

[ralfy]

Social media are based on extensive levels of energy and material resource use. Given that, what will "destroy" civilization in the long term won't be social media but limits to growth.

[Newfie]

Ah, back to basics.

While I agree it does appear that in the interim we will make the world a much less pleasant place to live.

[Cog]

I find great humor in the extremes of social media.

Hillary Clinton is literally Hitler.
Donald Trump is literally Hitler.
Hillary Clinton is going to lock us all up in concentration camps.
Donald Trump is going to lock us all up in concentration camps.

Trump is going to start WW3 with the Russians
Trump is a puppet of Putin

Obama is going to serve out a third term by invoking martial law
Bush is going to serve out a third term by invoking martial law

This has been the best election ever to get the extremists out to post their paranoia on the internet. Whenever possible, I encourage them to go full retard.

[C8]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') find great humor in the extremes of social media.

Hillary Clinton is literally Hitler.
Donald Trump is literally Hitler.
Hillary Clinton is going to lock us all up in concentration camps.
Donald Trump is going to lock us all up in concentration camps.

Trump is going to start WW3 with the Russians
Trump is a puppet of Putin

Obama is going to serve out a third term by invoking martial law
Bush is going to serve out a third term by invoking martial law

This has been the best election ever to get the extremists out to post their paranoia on the internet. Whenever possible, I encourage them to go full retard.

[Newfie]

Spot on, really nicely put.