Understanding and Dealing with Bad Manners on the Internet

It has become apparent that after about a decade of internet use that the above equation holds true. Give someone with low self-esteem anonymous access to an internet forum and what you get is the worst that humanity has to offer. Even on the most innocuous subjects, people are throwing insults at each other as if their lives depended on it. This article attempts to get into the core factors regarding this dilemma.

The issue is quite easy to see from an anthropological perspective. When insecure people have a chance at attacking others without being held accountable they will most surely do it. The cold hard reality is that our species is fighting over scarce resources every day. It may not seem this way on the surface but we are competing over jobs, land, mating opportunities, and a whole host of other things. Those who feel inferior feel that they must attack in order to remove potential threats from the field while those who are secure with themselves are trying to put a handle on the situation.

For the most part we are civil to others because we are usually accountable for our actions. For instance if someone breaks into a house there is a chance that that person will be killed by gun fire. Thus, the vast majority of people do not break into other people's houses. If in a public theater someone is yelling out obscenities they will be shouted down, thrown out, or even possibly beaten. Thus, most of the time those with inferiority complexes are held in check by society. Unfortunately this is not yet the case for Internet communication.

The Internet is a different scenario. Most people use it in an anonymous fashion. They are not accountable or at least they think they are not accountable for their behavior online. What we end up with is a mass of digital garbage. Real debates stagnate and those who are secure with themselves are left with few forums to debate with other like-minded people.

So where does this leave us? What is the solution to this problem? We already have moderators who are doing the best they can to keep things civil. Is there anything more can we do?

I believe that if we increase accountability we increase civility. We can increase the number of forums where people are required to verify their real identities. Make photos and location identification mandatory for those who wish to engage in intelligent debate. The trick is balancing the right to privacy with increasing accountability. Also the current state of communication over the net reveals glaring psychological problems in large segments of society. By giving more positive avenues to gain self-esteem we can increase the quality of interaction in forums. Maybe we could increase the amount of mental health care for those who need it.

I'm sure there are many other ideas to help increase civility on the Internet. Maybe we will be able to incorporate the majority of them in the Internet one day. Then people will have a forum to build character and share something of value instead of a forum where they attempt to tear each other down. Maybe e can shed light on the darkness and make people strive for something better.