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Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

unherd.com

31–40 of 233 posts

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#31

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

> the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone I'm not sure what you're talking about--I wonder if this is just your extremely subjective experience of the internet? Because I thought that the internet lately has been nothing but disagreement.

I think people disagree with each other all the time right now, but rarely ever actually listen. You can't update your view of the world based on feedback if you refuse to take the feedback seriously in the first place or think critically about opposing points of view.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#32
post #29

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

I like your point, but I think you take it too far here: > if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insignificant chance you will ever realize something might be wrong A lot of my self-improvement has come not because of explicit negative feedback, but through paying attention to people and reflecting on who I want to be in the world. Th…

What you may not realize is, some people literally don't know how to do that, or that it's even something anyone would ever do. If you dropped into an alien culture, you'd need to learn a new raft of different signals all over again.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#33
This sort of wishy washy argument (seemingly accepted by generally educated/reasonable people on HN) is the reason that society is so scientifically illiterate. It has nice sounding arguments that embed themselves into your thought patterns but zero real substance. Articles like this are how you get hordes of people to believe something without cause. The next time you see someone act "bad" online, you'll be able to excuse yourself for thinking, "that person has 'psychological issues'" instead of thinking any deeper. You saw an article about that, after all.

The plural of anecdote is not evidence.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#34

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

I continue to believe that downvotes would make Twitter and Facebook a healthier and happier place.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#35

This is one of the main reasons I feel like the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone is ultimately toxic. As a person with (currently treated and doing fine) psychological issues I don’t expect any single comment to get through to you, but if there are never any negative indicators that you are the problem, rather than everyone else… there is a mathematically insign…

> the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone I'm not sure what you're talking about--I wonder if this is just your extremely subjective experience of the internet? Because I thought that the internet lately has been nothing but disagreement.

Agreed, I think this sentiment is along the lines of "political correctness run amok" which is a completely subjective interpretation of changing social norms. Whereas I think the article is discussing how some use the impersonal void of social media as an outlet for their anxiety, etc.

Personally, I try to limit the amount of time I spend on such websites, and HN is really the only place I read the comments (in moderation). Consuming everyone else's anxiety is unproductive, because it skews how I view the world (and the people in it), and raises my blood pressure. :)

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#37
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone I'm not sure what you're talking about--I wonder if this is just your extremely subjective experience of the internet? Because I thought that the internet lately has been nothing but disagreement.

I think people disagree with each other all the time right now, but rarely ever actually listen. You can't update your view of the world based on feedback if you refuse to take the feedback seriously in the first place or think critically about opposing points of view.

[deleted]

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#38
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the current culture of never disagreeing with anyone so you can never possibly offend anyone I'm not sure what you're talking about--I wonder if this is just your extremely subjective experience of the internet? Because I thought that the internet lately has been nothing but disagreement.

Agreed, I think this sentiment is along the lines of "political correctness run amok" which is a completely subjective interpretation of changing social norms. Whereas I think the article is discussing how some use the impersonal void of social media as an outlet for their anxiety, etc. Personally, I try to limit the amount of time I spend on such websites, and HN is really the only place I read the comments (in mode…

I actively avoid Twitter, but still get force fed Twitter opinions via most news websites. I wish they would stop producing headlines about the latest "backlash" or "outrage" on there.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#39
post #5
post #2

Did you know the background of unherd? If you did you might not have regard for this.

People are capable on judging an argument on its own merits. After all, if you don't think HN readers possess that capability, why bother associating with the commentariat on this website?

I guess it'd argue you can't judge an argument on its own merits unless it's a philosophical argument.

For example the best published scientific studies can't be judged on their own merits because you have to trust that the scientists actually conducted the studies and didn't fake the data. So you basically have to fall back to some assumption over whether the scientist is honest, not on the merits of what they wrote in the study.

Re: Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems from psychological issues

#40
post #19

>About 70% of DID patients are also diagnosed with BPD, and the two conditions are often considered part of the same spectrum. >I’m certainly not saying that all trans people have personality disorders or that being trans is a mental illness. A little bit of whiplash on this one. Despite the sentence or two claiming what the author is purportedly not doing, the rest of the article seems to indicate otherwise. If you…

Lots of trans people in fact are mentally ill. Given the additional stresses and oppresive social experiences trans people face and are outspoken about , this is entirely unsurprising.

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