🤔 Why is Online Conflict So Addictive Nowadays? #OnlineConflict #Addiction #SocialMedia
Wondering when the addiction to online conflict started taking over? Let’s dive into this intriguing phenomenon!
The Rise of Online Conflict Addiction
– When did society become so hooked on online drama?
– What factors contribute to this addiction?
– How does social media play a role in fueling online conflicts?
Understanding the Psychology Behind It
– Explore the concept of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and its impact on online behavior.
– Learn about the dopamine rush associated with engaging in conflicts online.
– Unpack why individuals feel compelled to join in on contentious conversations.
Let’s unravel the mysteries behind the allure of online conflict and discover how we can navigate this digital landscape more consciously. Join the conversation today! 🌐 #DigitalWorld #Psychology #Curiosity #StayInformed
People are scared to say what they want to say irl, so they use the internet as an escape/release.
September of 1993 through August of 1994 when multiple commercial Internet services all started offering USENET access, which had previously been mostly academic and government.
The influx of new freshmen every September always caused disruption as it took a few weeks for students to learn the norms of discourse and expected behavior. And the various commercial services all had their own small boards where people could interact.
But in all the BBSes and web boards, the communities were small enough that people knew each other, and everything had an identifiable owner and was moderated. And was small enough that it *could* be moderated. And USENET was much larger, but had a culture which could be enforced since access was through people’s universities or government employers.
But once you had people who were paying for Internet access so saw it as something they owned, and it was far too large for anybody to manage, conflict increased, and people started watching the conflict for fun.
When all the stupid people started coming out of the woodwork
When we learned to spell.
It’s been like this since day one. I remember flaming, getting flamed, and witnessing many “flame wars” during the mid-to-late 90s/early 2000s on AOL chat rooms, irc, Usenet forums, and bulletin board systems, etc.
When did ARPANET go online? 1969?
Sort of related: a common theme I’ve noticed in tons of comments lately.
“I really like [company, band, whatever], but this [latest thing they did] is complete trash.”
A lot of virtue signaling, wanting to be viewed by others as being on the “right side of history” rather than think for themselves and use their brains
Because you are able to behave like an asshole online without the threat of the one you are harassing punching you in the face.
Anonimity truly is a double edged sword
It’s always existed. Sure sociopolitical aspects and general tension/unrest add to humanity’s desire to bump heads but the reality is that we just have more outlets for it to play out in. We are so saturated in content between social media and apps like tiktok and Instagram and with content comes opinions. With content comes comment sections. Social media is just an echo chamber of squabbling. Take away the echo chamber and the squabbles are still there, they’re just quieter. Less noticeable.
A massive portion of comments are just trolls/instigators, though. There are an infinite number of fake accounts used as tools for reducing trust in social networks/ mass theft of personal data/organizing information injections and just about any malicious intent you can dream up.
everyone is barely getting by, the world has shitty news all over and you need to keep good face when talking in real life.
The internet is one of the few places where people can liberate themselves from the anger and hate.
always been this way, don’t give it much attention. Plus anonimity gives some people a feeling of power
it’s certainly not as infuriating as all the bootlickers for corps like apple, starbucks, sony, or whatever you’re using.
you post a problem about a device not working then there’s mr fanboy coming to tell you well ive used my product for 4 years and its still running ! people really don’t treat their device well !
as if his experience invalidates yours. I’ll never forget all the bootlickers for sony wf1000xm4 while the device had a problem sony refused to acknowledge the first months.
People have been hooked on others drama since the dawn of time
Feels good I guess makes people feel some sort of superiority complex and or it’s a way for people to cope and just release that tension from their mind. It’s in our Nature but I’m honestly very tired of it I just want to have a civil conversation and that’s hard.
You get a small rush of dopamine, adrenaline and other brain chemcals that feel nice so you go looking for more
It’s human instinct to only acknowledge threats and ignore the positive. Also it takes no courage whatsoever to go off on somebody in a comment thread. The weak get to be strong.
Anyone who is old enough to remember usenet knows this shit was here since the beginning. One that particularly sticks out because of how absurd it was… I remember trolls from alt.fan.startrek raiding alt.fan.starwars to suggest, in a crosspost that quickly escalated into profanity and physical threats from each side, that the borg cube could travel back in time to easily defeat and assimilate the death star and its occupants. Must have been like 1993ish. And before the internet there were call-in shows where you would basically get the equivalent of a youtube comment section from the ignorant callers.
Because conflict is in human nature.
Anger releases dopamine and social media is designed as a drug. The more instant-gratification something offers, the more addictive. And the. You need a higher dose of it.
Anger gives instant gratification through dopamine. And it escalates when you need a stronger hit.
Add that to the fact everyone will be doing the same thing, looking for anger, and you have yourself a nasty loop
When unfiltered proximity voice chat was no longer included as a game feature, all vitirol became text
People have always been interested in something bad happening. Thats the reason why there is a traffic jam on the otherside of the road where an accident happened, in Dutch we call them “crisistourists”.
Since it’s on the internet, it’s way more accessible.
When the internet expanded and became less moderated. Sure you can get banned from the website or sub but not from the internet
Dopamine and adrenalin. Arguing, and “winning” releases feel-good chemicals in the brain to make us feel powerful and happy about fighting – originally an evolutionary reward for fight-or-flight survival.
We want to replicate those feelings – and the internet gives an easy, addictive hit of the same chemicals without the risk of actually getting punched/hit on the head with a club/eaten by a sabertooth tiger.
Hate it man
“Tell us your unpopular opinions so we all get dopamine from arguing!”
Yesterday
Not everyone.
facebook
How dare you pose this question, meet me outside.
The glorious of being a keyboard warrior is unmatched!!
[You might find this interesting.](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02704676211064567?casa_token=sK0keIEdhv8AAAAA:pbe-a9v9TOxas3OrQwBQaMxlobePyAqLqAzQmum82gPwJxFWdLT5yP76068f5FhOe7TrHTh1KPN4Dg)
i’m tired of arguing with people online. If lots of people are harassing me, I delete my comment. You don’t walk into a flat-earth convention and tell them they’re wrong. And if I’ve done that by mistake, it’s better for me to just leave.
If I have a lot of upvotes and one person harassing me, I just block that person. More often than not, the person harassing me found one minor detail to nitpick and fight me over. Or worse, they took as uncharitable an interpretation of my comment as possible (if not misquoting, taking out of context completely) and want to argue with how I said this or that.
I disagree, people aren’t addicted to online conflict you IGNORAMUS
FUCK YOU THAT’S WHEN!
I dunno though, people have always been jerks online, maybe the pandemic lockdowns swung it upwards a bit.
It really hit a tipping point with social media (after Facebook become popular really – it wasn’t like this on MySpace). It has now gotten to a point where most social media actually tries to create conflict because its the best way to make the platforms sticky and “engaging”.
My dad can beat up your dad
When chatrooms and message boards first appeared.