the Social Sidekick: Online Politeness
I was listneing to the Tony Kornheiser Show on the Radio on Monday and I heard him interviewing someone about LeBron James. I don’t know who Tony was interviewing but he said something really amazing and I agree 100%.
He said stats show that people in public are routinely nice…in particular to LeBron James. They open doors for him (and each other), they want to take pictures and are overall, just nice. However, on social media, the tendency is to trash and disparage someone else…especially to LeBron James. They are quick to say something negative or hurtful when we wouldn’t say anything close to that in real life.
Nice when you are face to face with someone but when you are behind the computer, anonymous to some degree, you are a jerk?!?
These are probably not the exact statistics this person was talking about, but here are some stats that show the difference between online and in person interactions. And, as I just said above, I agree 100% with this statement.
The question is, why do we do this? Why do we tend to be nice and polite in public, yet when we are behind a computer or a smartphone, our tendency is to be mean and nasty?
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
