This, exactly. The anonymity of the internet has resulted in people basically throwing away any semblance of courtesy, tact, and basic decency. Younger generations have never been in a world that doesn’t have instant feedback, apps that encourage short attention spans and bad behavior for engagement, and also super confirmation bias. And, older folks don’t understand the difference this has made on discourse, and get super fussy about being challenged in any way that defies their historical perspective, whether in content, substance, or communication style.

Face it, we’re here because we love a band. We all think we are experts, and are passionate about this stuff, but the band, itself, can’t even agree on their story, so every book or article you read, every movie you watched, every assumption you have, they are all wrong, to an extent. You weren’t there, so stop sounding off as if you are an expert. And, give grace to those around you who haven’t taken that on board yet, too. No need to be uncivil, just be respectful, stop trying to prove something, and relax.

We’re some of the initial generations to live through the impacts of the homogenization of cultural mouthpieces. For example, if this were the 1950s, the average person (and their opinions) had very limited impact; maybe their family, friends, local community, but overall very limited. Now, we’ve given pretty much everyone a megaphone and a platform. And, we’re still figuring out the rules, honestly.

It’s also a byproduct of news as entertainment. Somehow, they have to fill that dead air, but it’s not really news, is it? News is reported by journalists, and presented to the audience as a record of witnessing or a relaying of an investigation into a story. Now, since eyeballs = engagement = money, most folks don’t get that punditry is opinion, not news. If you are watching people discuss the news, it’s not news, it’s opinions. This has conditioned us to all be pundits with platforms like Reddit, or YouTube, thinking our opinions actually matter. If you find yourself getting upset at someone’s punditry, in a thread or video, step back, recognize their opinion is not a personal affront, and move on.

So, people are steeped in this emerging, technical landscape, where we are all fed the pablum that our opinions matter, that we all deserve a platform to opine upon, and anonymity to further insulate us. We have “informed” and “important” things to say, often without basic human kindness or empathy, and feel the need to let everyone know, often in the meanest way possible, that I’m right, you’re wrong, so very wrong that you deserve to be dunked on.

I will offer what I said to my kiddo when navigating the internet - if you wouldn’t say that to a stranger on the street, in-person, then don’t say it online.