While the exact data about bad behavior on social media isn’t exactly clear, I think most of us have come across some bad online behavior at one time or another.
People blowing up in the comments, writing scathing blog posts in which others are verbally ripped to pieces, reacting fiercely to constructive criticism, you name it. It sometimes feels like the Internet brings out the worst in us, because people write things that they would never do in ‘real’ life.
Psychologists have largely attributed this to anonymity and invisibility: when you’re online, no one knows who you are or what you look like. But recent research has found another very fascinating cause for our bad behavior online:
The lack of eye contact.
Researchers found that people who maintained eye contact, even via webcams, during their interaction were far less likely to become hostile. Even when the two people could only see each other eyes and knew nothing about it each other, they were civil with each other.
I’m not sure what the practical applications are here, it’s hardly feasible to have everyone face a camera while blogging, commenting or tweeting. It does say something though about how easily we lose right of the fact that we’re talking to and about real people, with real feelings than can really get hurt.
A lesson we we all should remember … don’t you think?
[Image via Bob Smith]
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