Something Taleb said resonated with me & it's about modernity & physical distance.
Social media has a problem of distance, you see people as abstractions, numbers and not as real persons because you can't see, touch them.
It encourages bad behaviour not necessarily out of malice
One of the controls society has is emotional reponse to physical situations. You know if you insult someone to their face, they'd get hurt & might respond in like manner, resort to violence or other measures. You can see the anger/shame on their face, you can feel it in the air.
You can read body langauge so you find it easier to overlook minor slights, you learn to forgive. You give them the benefit of doubt.
Also, you get judged or judge people based on their antecedents. People become heroes based on sacrifice & not posturing. You consider intent.
Social media is the antithesis of all this. Text can't show tone, comprehension is a problem & malice is the default assumption.
You get elevated by posturing as much as by doing.
You can judge with no bonafides. You have distance so no biological/emotional warnings.
You judge without sufficient fact. You assume instead of discovering intent.
You cannbe malicious without expecting blowback & without the twinge of conscience in physical interactions.
You double down on the ordinarily embarrassing because no one can see you in that moment
You become impervious to criticism because no physical/emotional bonds to keep you in check. All you accept is the validation/adulation without the other side.
You wield your soft power in a hard manner because no feedback mechanism as in reality.
You trivialize other's problems because you are distanced from the context. You refuse to admit that reality is multi-variant & yours is just one variation.
You see the individual without the whole or use the whole as a cudgel to bludgeon individual matters.
You can set rules & not abide by them, it's all posturing anyway & who will judge you because once again, they can't see you.
You can be harmful without consequence.
You can push ideas without your intent being scrutinized.
You can follow @SeunEsq.
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