Nudge, nudge: Can software prod us into being more civil?

The closer we get to the presidential election, the more concern gets raised about how divided the country is and how acrimonious our discussions are over fundamental issues. Attack ads aren't the only problem. The comments sections on web pages and blogs are overflowing with bitterness. The mood expressed there shows such heightened signs of technological influence, it seems ripped from the pages of the Marshall McLuhan playbook: the medium of communication is influencing the messages people send and receive. The best solution, then, might be for magazines, newspapers, and blogs to address the root problem by hacking the source: re-designing the structure of the forum to encourage civility. Before considering whether we want to go there, let's quickly review why the medium matters.

 

At Scientific American, the hyperbolically titled "Why Is Everyone on the Internet So Angry?" asked why so many readers post hostile and rude comments on controversial Web stories. The answer? A "perfect storm of factors": anonymity lessens personal accountability; distance from our conversation partners makes us treat them as abstractions, not human beings; it's easier to be mean to someone when addressing them through writing rather than through speech; armchair commentary provides a false sense of accomplishment; and, a lack of real-time flow in the conversation encourages monologues.

 

Over at the Wall Street Journal, Dylan Wittkower, editor of Facebook and Philosophy, shifted the focus to Facebook. Although Facebook users address a more intimate community than folks chiming in on the comments section of a story, Wittkower observes a similar problem arising when hotbed topics like gun control arise: "Facebook brings us into several new dynamics that intensify what seems to be already a predisposition for many: the inability to listen to someone say something wrong about something important and not say something about it."

Read the full story at The Atlantic.