Slightly off-topic (talking about the psychology and not this UX), but I also feel like people are yelling "You f*ing idiot(s)!" online to feel better about themselves, e.g. if someone wrote "How can you not see [insert politician's name here] is saving the world, you idiot!", they'd feel a bit better about themselves for getting it and being smarter than the person behind the wall of text they just read.
We need to take care of the loneliness epidemic as well, and this addiction to the Ersatz-Socialising which is just staring at screens and thinking you have a social life...
Agree completely. Negative social media behavior is many times just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger issue of the fabric of society being torn, of our spirits hurting, and of psychological issues surfacing. We must acknowledge this and offer paths for people to find psychological safety again, and one way is to soften and de-escalate the culture of discourse.
We need to take care of the loneliness epidemic as well, and this addiction to the Ersatz-Socialising which is just staring at screens and thinking you have a social life...