Is it easier to be a jerk online?
In this day and age, you are more likely to communicate with people over a message board, social network site, or blog then you are via phone or even in person. Ever since the dawn of the internet, trolls and online pests have been rampant, and it seems like people have less of a problem with getting down and dirty in an email or a blog comment then they would if you were on the phone or in person.
Cali Lewis from [ Geek Brief ] recently talked about this song by Geoff Smith and showed it on her video podcast and it deals with the idea that when people forget the manners that they would normally display in real life and post mean, and sometimes even cruel statements online, that there is a real person out there in the interwebs that feels the sting of what you say. Maybe that is something to consider before you hit that submit button. In the meantime, enjoy the song. It is pretty cool. Afterward, leave a comment and let me know what you think. Are you more likely to be hurtful online then you would be in real life?
Ones and 0s by Geoff Smith from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.
Being a jerk online is waaay much easier and sometimes difficult to realize it. The non verbals aren’t there for us to recognize the true cognitive meaning of what we are saying.
We can act big and touch behind a computer but be totally different in person.
Being a jerk online is easy. Being awesome like me is waaay hard, but somehow I pull it off
I saw a commercial on US TV about cyberbullying, it really is a problem and for those doing it, it probably seems like a victimless crime. The social norm of seeing the person you are interracting with is not present with the internet and society is changing because of this. What you have touched on is a real problem.
it’s waaaaaay easier to be a jerk online.
coming from some e-discovery work… waaaaaay more traceable and easy to use as evidence against someone as well…
i’ll stick with being a jerk in person.
remember, i’m just words on a screen. we’re not real.