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Why are people so adversarial on social media? Why do I keep seeing people setting traps, or baiting people? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by taanegl@beehaw.org to c/chat@beehaw.org

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Social media is one hell of a drug. It'd have you swallowing giant gummy worms whole at the back of a sip'n'strut. Oh sure, the catharsis is nice, but at some point you'll need to ask yourself "why are we like this?"

Lately I've been noticing how some comments make me want to exclaim "IT'S A TRAP!". Obvious, open and quite frankly kinda basic baiting, like some disgruntled parent at a PTA, smacking his chest with his bare hand, telling another parent "cash me outside bro how bout dat?"

Like okay, this one comment was doing a set up where the intention was to either get someone to A) depose Hamas or B) defend Hamas, with the intent of jumping down someone's throat.

Why are people like this, mommy? And why am I calling someone "mommy" on social media? Can't we just make homemade cookies like we used to do on rainy nights, and be happy? And why is daddy always drinking the unhappy juice? I think I probably already answered that question...

Mommy, I want McDonald's!!!

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[–] lemillionsocks@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Internet culture is a weird thing. There are people who will point to civil golden ages of the internet when things were nicer before modern social media like facebook and twitter, but even the message board days were loaded with trolls.

I think some of the problem is that trolling is ingrained in the culture of the internet. I think it comes down to a few things:

1.A lot of trolls are edgelords who are just trying to get a rise out of people because they think its funny. Theyre pranking a community. Sometimes it's harmless like getting a rise out of nintendo fanboys, sometimes admittedly it can be funny if its over something stupid, but a lot of trolls will get desperate and try anything to get a rise out of people and not care about what lines they cross.

2.Theres a phenomenon caused by anonymity or even perceived anonymity that can cause people to be a little more unfiltered and nasty than they otherwise would be. Its a phenomenon noticed prominently in drivers. Normally reasonable nice people can turn into road raging foul mouthed idiots because theyre in a big metal box and despite the many windows it feels like a private space. Obviously anonymous message boards encourage behavior, but even when your name and face is plastered on something the person posting is likely replying from their bedroom or even the toilet so there is an air of privacy even when they are in fact airing something in a public forum.

There is an encouragement from social media to engage even if you shouldnt. If you dont like or care for something and it's harmless you can and should just scroll by. The world isnt waiting for you to come down from the heavens and give your opinion on how the thing they like sucks, and we sure as hell dont need you to be a jerk about it on top of that. A lot of social media encourages engagement though.

4.Internet users are young. Less so these days than it was in the 90s and 00s, but even so who do you think has all this free time to be terminally online? I mean yeah plenty of adults do, but its largely a lot of teens and college students. People who are more likely to find the edgy bullshit funny and get into trouble. People who are likely to get really opinionated on stupid stuff that doesnt matter, and people who's personalities arent yet fully formed(granted I dont think we ever finish growing and changing and maturing but its definitely more rapid 14-24 vs 30-40). Theyre also likely to be influenced by the nasty internet culture thats been a norm for decades.

I think years of all this together have just encouraged a nasty place to be. Trolls feeding trolls, feeding outrage , feeding normal people who are empowered by being faceless, feeding people who could just not participate and save themselves and everyone else a big headache and it distills into something mean.