To help you flesh out your theory, we are not biologically engineered to communicate non-visually. Normal communication involves the constant sub conscious analyzing of the body language of the person you are talking to in response to each statement. If they start to display indications of hostility, oops, we modify our conversation. If a sudden change in body language is observed, we naturally adapt our conversation. If body language display heightened interest, we keep going. If their eyes are wandering, and they are turned away from us, we realize they are bored. If they display indications of sexual interest, we fuck it all up and they end up walking away.
Okay, some people are slightly better than others at it, but the point is: we are biologically engineered to see the ramifications of our communication.
To top it off, when we are in a situation of face to face communication, we also imply risk: If we piss someone off enough, they are not powerless. They can cry, invoke the hostility of others, or even hit us.
When people are on the internet, it's no different than when they are in a vehicle. They no longer see someone's face, no they no longer see any consequences, they are not connected to their biological subconscious communication system. The boil over and delve into "fuck you" and "you stupid fuckers". They do things they would never do in a face to face context. They get racist, sexist, violent, hostile.
You are right in the internet being a huge contributing factor in peoples loss of social skill and an increase in loneliness, and the above ^^ is the precise reason.
ETA/PS: That subconscious communication system is a part of an advanced empathetic reaction. A lot of people mistake "empathy" for "sympathy", Empathy is merely being able to "feel" what other people "feel", even if you hate them for it. Most of it is under the hood. As people spend less time in face-to-face conversations when they are younger, their empathy is underdeveloped - and this is seen in broad, national surveys that span about three decades - there is a significant decrease in empathy observed in teens since the widespread rise of social media; and an increase in narcissism.
ETA 2: For your reading, referring to the long analysis: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/b...oung-americans




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