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Microsoft Survey Shows Negative Online Interactions Affect People In Real Life (computerworld.com)
"Preliminary results of a new Microsoft survey show nearly two-thirds of people surveyed had at least one negative online experience that had an impact on them in the real world, ranging from a loss of trust in others, increased stress or sleep deprivation," reports Computerworld. Microsoft's chief online safety officer writes:
Both adults and teens said they became less trusting of others in the real world after a negative interaction online (adults: 31%, teens: 29%). Consequences to adults that outpaced those to teens included the older generation becoming less trusting of people online (42% of adults vs. 37% of youth), and a reluctance to participate in blogs and other online forums (23% of adults vs. 20% of teens)... The study, "Civility, Safety and Interaction Online -- 2016," polled youth ages 13-17 and adults ages 18-74 in 14 countries... Half reported being "extremely or very" worried about online risks generally, with the most common concerns being unwanted contact (43%) and various forms of harassment (39%).
Microsoft's blog post urges people to "Embrace digital civility and model healthy behaviors for young people both online and off" -- and also notes that today is World Kindness Day.
Microsoft's blog post urges people to "Embrace digital civility and model healthy behaviors for young people both online and off" -- and also notes that today is World Kindness Day.
No social contract. Look through history...if you are an unknown quantity in a place, you are safe in doing nasty things. Do you really think raping and pillaging cities and towns after battle was driven by blood lust - no, it was just that normal forms of enforcement weren't happening, and no one knew you.
This is unsurprising and won't change.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Thankfully I've never been attacked with sticks and stones. And you can't be attacked with sticks and stones through the internet.
But contrary to the old saying, names can and frequently do hurt, as they are intended to do. And calling people names and any other sort of verbal abuse is very easy online. Likely much easier than it is in real life since you don't even have to see the person you are abusing.
At the same time online abuse may in some ways be less painful or threatening since your abuser is not present. A threat to do physical harm is much scarier when the person is actually right in front of you. However the sheer number of people online means you will probably be subject to much more such abuse online than in person.
On of the great things about the internet is that it can connect you to all sorts of wonderful resources. Unfortunately it also connects you to every abusive, vile, stupid (etc. etc.) person anywhere on the planet.