Add in a few extra modern ingredients and it gets easier to understand why timelines get so heated. Algorithms tend to reward posts that spark strong reactions, so outrage and snark often get pushed higher than a calm, thoughtful reply ever would.
Piling on also feels safer in a crowd, since one nasty comment among fifty others feels less personal to write than it would if you were the only one saying it. And plain old stranger danger works both ways online, since it's easier to be cruel to someone you'll never actually meet.
Understanding the why behind all this doesn't excuse rude behavior, but it does make it a little less mysterious and a little less personal when you run into it. That keyboard warrior yelling in your comments probably wouldn't say a single word of it to your face, and that says a lot more about the medium than it does about you.
Which is exactly why groups like this one matter. Every time someone chooses to leave an encouraging comment instead of a snarky one, or takes the extra second to be kind to a total stranger online, they're proof that the disinhibition effect can swing in the good direction too. Wholesome internet is entirely possible, it just takes people deciding to make it that way, one comment at a time.
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