Has Our Online Behaviour Influenced our Real Life Behaviour?

As an amateur anthropologist, it seems to me that humans tend to have an intuitive desire to belong in a tribe, a survival instinct in built in all of us. In essence, for us to have got here, we needed the protection of the tribe to mate and reproduce, so it was wise to conform and go along with the tribe. These defining genetic characteristics then get passed through generations and these behaviours are exhibited in human nature.

These characteristics have existed for generations, long before the technological revolution we’re going through. Combining the tribal instincts of man with technology, more specifically social media could be explaining the fracturing of society today.

It's not groundbreaking to say that tribes form on social media. These are drawn on many different lines, from sports teams, political allegiances and even sound money(goldbugs vs cryptobugs). With the way social media is set up, you’re generally not getting a differing opinion on your feed as most of your friends tend to be of the same tribe.

Take the political tribes online. There tends to be a huge chasm between 'left' and 'right' politics and they naturally form their own two divisive tribes. Each tribe has their own set of values and rules, each congratulating their own on their ‘victories’ and each of their views constantly getting reinforced by the twitter and facebook algorithm.

On the rare occasion any alternate view of each individual tribal law gets on the feed, whether it be from another tribe or from a traitor within the group it gets treated with hostility and is quickly shut down. A ‘left’ tribe members suggests universal health care, and an opposing ‘right’ member calls them a commie. A ‘right’ tribe member suggests that immigration needs to be controlled, and an opposing ‘left’ member calls them a fascist.

This kind of uber tribal interaction leaves absolutely no room for nuanced debate.

It’s not just related to important topics such as politics, I’ve noticed it along more trivial matters such as sport. Very quickly, opposing supporters are arguing over inane matters and it often gets personal. I suspect it goes on in other pop culture avenues too, such as opposing fans of musical acts.

In our ancestral past, tribal differences were met with violence but with all interactions between tribes behind a screen and thus no real threat of violence, these online flashpoints between tribes tend to be nasty and over the top. No potential punch to the face means you can say whatever you like without little repercussion.

This is all well and good behind a screen. But what if we spend too much time in front of a screen? These uber tribalistic confrontations, without any threat of violence tend to become normalised in real life interactions. Confronted with an opposing opinion, instead of going into a mode of reasoned debate, many have gone into an ‘online’ mode of whoever shouts the loudest wins.

Don’t get me wrong, we have always exhibited those characteristics. It’s just that these characteristics have been intensified as a direct result of most of our interactions with opposing tribes and opinions done mainly on social media. If say, we had daily interactions in real life with opposing opinions, would our reactions be so intense to something we disagreed with?

I see it displayed on tv debate panels, they have without doubt got more shouty and less civilised in recent years to the point of where it is unwatchable. I myself, have stopped giving differing opinions to the consensus in social situations, with the repercussion of getting shouted down not worth the hassle. These exaggerated online behaviours have seeped themselves into real life.

If we take the political tribes, in the aftermath of the two biggest events of the last year, Brexit and Trump being elected, we saw plenty of protesters clash, their opinions getting hardened and a vicious cycle back and forth fighting. This would have existed pre social media but would it have been as intense and gone on for so long?

Pro and Anti Trump Protesters Clash at Berkeley.

And it’s not just the tribal tendencies that have intensified themselves in real life. I’ve only been using twitter for the last year, and noticed in myself that I’ve become more sarcastic as a result of the snarky 140 characters tweets I read incessantly. If most of social interaction is done online, how does it not affect us in real life?

A constant reinforcement of often illogical and extreme opinions without any genuine opposing thought means we can never be challenged and reform our opinions. We become more dogmatic, more stubborn and less likely to engage in genuine debate. When we do face them in real life, we often act aggressively. This constant feedback loop we’re experiencing online may eventually lead us to fractured real life society at large. I think we’re already seeing it along political lines.

The irony of social media today - it claims to bring us together but it could actually be dividing us more.