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The Internet's Age of Rage

Posted by Soulskill on from the none-of-us-are-as-obnoxious-as-all-of-us dept.

RackNine sends this excerpt from an editorial at the Guardian: "The worldwide web has made critics of us all. But with commenters able to hide behind a cloak of anonymity, the blog and chatroom have become forums for hatred and bile. ... The psychologists call it 'deindividuation.' It's what happens when social norms are withdrawn because identities are concealed. The classic deindividuation experiment concerned American children at Halloween. Trick-or-treaters were invited to take sweets left in the hall of a house on a table on which there was also a sum of money. When children arrived singly, and not wearing masks, only 8% of them stole any of the money. When they were in larger groups, with their identities concealed by fancy dress, that number rose to 80%. The combination of a faceless crowd and personal anonymity provoked individuals into breaking rules that under 'normal' circumstances they would not have considered. ... One simple antidote to this seems to rest in the very old-fashioned idea of standing by your good name. Adopt a pseudonym and you are not putting much of yourself on the line. Put your name to something and your words are freighted with responsibility."

3 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory by 0101000001001010 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe the technical term is Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

  2. Fuck you by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    This story sucks. Your all idiots.

    FOAD, assholes.

  3. Re:Eternal September by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought eternal september referred more to ignorance: "noobs" who didn't know what they were doing or how to behave on the internet. This is a more general "People wearing masks act worse" applied specifically to online. The general principle was noticed -long- before 1993, and was probably noticed before 1993 in online interactions too.

    "You are using ARPANET chat room. The current time is 23:30, October 29, 1969.

    Anonymous user: "HOW IS BABBY FORMED1!"
    You: "Dr. Kleinrock? What are you doing?"
    Anonymous user: "I'M NOT Kleinrock! I am anonymous!!! TROLOLOLOLOL!"
    You: "Yes you are, there's only two computers on the internet at this time."
    -Anonymous user has disconnected-"