A new study links partisan activity on the Internet to widespread online toxicity, revealing that politically-engaged users exhibit uncivil behavior even in non-political discussions. The findings are based on an analysis of hundreds of millions of comments from over 6.3 million Reddit users.

Politically-engaged Redditors tend to be more toxic – even in non-political subreddits::A new study links partisan activity on the Internet to widespread online toxicity, revealing that politically-engaged users exhibit uncivil behavior even in non-political discussions. The findings are based on an analysis of hundreds of millions of comments from over 6.3 million Reddit users.

  • jmp242English
    1·
    1 year ago

    Oh, online IDK, I think it’d be hard to miss, but people do still end up in echo chambers. At home or in person? Who’s doing the questioning matters too. What your friends think can matter a lot - if everyone is quiet because they don’t want to become “part of the problem”, no one is part of the solution. “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk”. I’d say that might well apply to at least try to “Friends don’t let friends fall down conspiracy theories”, “become neo-nazis”, etc.

    But given Daryl Davis, maybe we agree - the in person is way more important than online. But I will also say a lot of people report finding likeminded people online (in multiple contexts like religion, LGBTQ+, nerds, whatever) helpful in realizing “not everyone is different from them” and “not everyone thinks one way”. And if only the loudest voices are left online, then we only see extremes. If representation matters, so does moderate representations.

    • Windex007@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I for sure agree that a discussion between friends is critical, especially the moment they start down a rabbit hole. I will admit to roasting a buddy who starts saying that “Jordan Peterson has some good points”. I guess I don’t consider that “Toxic” because of the pre-existing relationship and context? Maybe that’s unfair of me.

      It’s an interesting thought. It really goes back to the question of trying to define toxicity.