Quote:
Originally posted by dragon wench
What I have noticed, though, is that often on public forums people appear far less sensitive of how others might feel when they make posts as opposed to "RL" situations.
Why does this happen? Is it the relative anonymity? Or maybe people somehow feel less responsible for the hurt they might have caused if they can't actually see the looks upon those who feel upset by what they have said. |
Like others have already posters, I think you can split people into three different groups: those who behave just the same as in RL (with the exception of mimic, tonality etc of course), those who become less sensitive and those who actually become more sensitive. However, there is always a sender and a receiver in all communication, and I think you can divide senders and receivers into the same three groups.
For the group people who behave badly, flame etc on internet, I think it's the
lack of consequences in combination with a special personality type, that induces this change. In RL, there will mostly be a lot of consequences, for instance social punishment, for being rude and unpleasant to others, whereas on internet, you can just flame away and not come back until you feel like it, or never. In other words, you yourself can control and modulate how much you want to see of other people's responses. This I think is crucial
For the group of people who become more sensitive and considerate on internet, I think this is often a product of realising that so much information is missing compared to RL (tonality, mimic, posture and everything else visual) and also in international communities such as Gamebanshee you realise that people come from many different cultures and only a few have English as first language. All this make communcation more complicated, so some people will express themselves in a more moderate way than in RL.
For the group of people who behave the same way as in RL, not much can be said, I think.
As my myself, I belong to the group that behaves about the same towards other people in RL as on internet - I have no "internet persona" and I have no special characteristics that I hide in RL. Some people feel more free on internet, whereas I feel much more limited. If anything, I moderate myself in some ways on internet, for instance I joke less since my type of ironic humour is difficult to convey without tonality and is easily misunderstood. Irony can easily be interpreted as sarcasm if you don't hear the tonality of the voice.
I very much agree with Ned and Sojourner that internet debating about topics that are sensitive to you, is very difficult if you are the kind of person who tends to take things on a personal level. I am often surprised by how fast a serious discussion about a given topic deteriorate and sink down to a personal and emotional level instead of being an exchange of a series of presented arguments that are relevant for the actual topic and rebuttal.
Another phenomenon I have observed often on internet, is that people tend to believe that their personal opinions and beliefs should be taken for granted as right, and then they become sore and hurt when other people start opposing. This I very rarely see in RL, and it may be connected to what Vondondue describes of being in you own little world. People live in a certain social context and have a certain background, and when they sit at home before the computer, the rest of the world probably feels further away than it is when you for instance post on an internet forum. Perhaps you are not so used to being opposed from your social environment, since any social groups tend to be more intra-homogenic than inter-homogenic with other groups. And then you react with surprise and upset when you are oppsed, and may not be prepared to present arguments but rather respond on a emotional level and take it all personal. Not that this never happens IRL as well, but - I have travelled a lot to many different cultures, and also discussions and debates at an international level is part of my job, but I have never experiences anything close to what I have seen on internet when it comes to sensitivity towards opposing opinions. So I would say that increased sensitivity is as common as blunted.