The Not So Subtle “Art” Of Online Behavior- Revisiting the Theory by John Suler on Online Disinhibition Effect
Imagine this…
You have just returned home after a long day and decided to relax. You take a snack and sit comfortably to scroll social media. Confident people posting pictures and reels, that’s what you see; many comments under these posts reflect your thoughts. But not all of them do- you see that quite a few of them are shaming these people, making fun of them, mocking their confidence or simply advising them to use their time doing something else .. something more productive. You click off social media with a bad taste in your mouth and a question- “Why are people so boldly mean on social media?
“The Internet has a disinhibition effect: you can be ruder to someone electronically than you would be in a face-to-face encounter since the exchange has been depersonalized. Read any Comments section on social media……..”
- Jonathan Sacks, Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence
Mean comments or Hate Comments- we usually receive them or see others receive them on the internet It can feel upsetting in either of these scenarios. Mind you, not every mean comment is intentional because meaning can be lost when seeing written comments versus seeing someone express their thoughts. But we can all spot the ones that make us question- “What was the point of being this rude?”
Psychologists have tried to understand the same for a while now but before we read about the research work done, I want us to take some time to see the impact of the flippant hostility of some people who hide behind their screens and write all their unfiltered thoughts.
Feeling like we are downing in hate and criticism….
Truthfully, we don’t need the help of research to get a general idea of the impact of the various degrees of cyberbullying. Being on the receiving end of such behavior can subdue our spirit and hurt us. Looking at studies done over the last decade can show how the data mirrors our sentiments about this situation.
A paper from 2014, highlighted the impact of cyberbullying on adolescents which included a higher degree of depressive mood, feelings of loneliness, anxiety, physical symptoms, and suicidal behavior. People who engaged in cyberbullying experienced more substance use, aggressive behavior, and delinquency (Nixon, 2014).
Another study based in Saudi Arabia also mentioned that there was a connection between the mental health of youth and likes, followers, or comments they receive on social media. In general, the paper noticed the overall correlation between experiences like stress, anxiety, and depression and social media use in excessive amounts (Beyari, 2023).
This is also not really about saying that social media usage is always bad, a study did also highlight that there is a positive correlation between social media usage and psychological and subjective well-being. In other words, social media could become a source of social support and boost self-esteem. But these positives could be eclipsed by cyberbullying leading some of the participants to disclose experiences of distress, less life satisfaction, anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts and attempts (Zhang et al., 2023).
Seeing that there are clear impacts of people’s insensitive comments or posts on social media, psychologists have tried to understand the mindset behind people who post insensitive thoughts on the internet.
Why are people so mean on social media?
A popular theory posited by a psychologist has been the “Online Disinhibition Effect”. John Suler, back in 2004 (two decades ago!) proposed this theory to talk about an observation of less inhibition in cyberspace. Researchers and regular internet users have noted that people online feel free to say things they never would in face-to-face conversations. Feeling a sense of freedom to share our thoughts isn’t always negative. We also see Benign Disinhibition, where people open up about their fears, emotions, wishes, support, generosity, and acts of kindness (sometimes to an extent that is not seen in situations outside social media).
The darker side of this lack of restraint that people feel is when the disinhibition becomes toxic. Toxic Disinhibition is essentially the pits of hell of social media where people don’t think twice before writing rude comments, harsh criticisms (mostly unwarranted), anger, threats, and feelings of hatred. It also includes indulging in other activities like violence and crime that one might never dare to indulge in the physical world. It sounds scary to imagine anyone falling prey to these scenarios.
The Six Components that make up Online Disinhibition Effect
Dissociative Anonymity (You don’t know me) —
This is a case of the “online persona”. Most people create usernames not remotely like their names, add random images as profile pictures, and create a persona. For some people, this persona is distinctly different from their real-life self. This creates a dissociation because in their minds- they are not like this in reality. They can’t be connected to other areas of their life like their job or personal life (unless they somehow give away such personal details).
Invisibility (You can’t see me) -
One of the things that made socializing on the internet so popular was that people couldn’t see each other all the time. People who were shy or insecure could choose to be vulnerable, let go of their fears of judgment, and interact with others. In many ways, this opened up opportunities for benign disinhibition. But this also meant that many people with bad intentions felt a sense of freedom to interact with strangers. This phenomenon can overlap with anonymity but not every faceless interaction is anonymous. When we don’t see someone, we don’t see their expressions or body language — this can encourage us to share our thoughts, but it can also make us feel bold to share things that could hurt others. Comments on people’s posts telling people to lose weight, or change their appearance might seem like genuine advice but if we saw the hurt or discomfort the other person felt (in face-to-face interactions), would we feel conscious about our tones and words?
Asynchronicity — (See you Later)-
Imagine this situation: sitting at a bus stop beside a stranger, you start talking to them, and out of nowhere they criticize your (probably very valid) choices, their bus arrives, and they leave. You never actually get a chance to defend yourself and your decisions (not that it is necessary, but we generally don’t want to be misunderstood), add context, or assert boundaries. Sounds frustrating, right? This is kind of how some social media interactions over email, and comment sections happen — this is known as asynchronicity. Synchronicity happens when we receive immediate feedback to the message we send, like when we talk to someone in person, we get a chance to let a conversation flow. Conversely, asynchronicity happens when we say something, and they see or reply to the message hours, weeks, or months later. Asynchronicity can make us feel comfortable to express dissent but it can make meaningful conversations difficult. Some people might use this opportunity to avoid taking responsibility by avoiding replying.
Solipsistic Introjection (It’s all in my head)-
When you interact with a person regularly, it is easier to gauge their thoughts and responses accurately because you would spend time with them to do so. But as humans, we also tend to do this when we don’t know a person. We start crafting a personality based on whatever crumbs of information we have and carve out the person we want them to be. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? It is pretty normal but can be unhelpful, especially in online spaces. When we watch YouTubers or people on Instagram we see very small, oftentimes scripted pieces of their lives and start relating to the similarities. You might have seen comments like- “Oh, you remind me of so and so”, “We could be best friends in real life” etc. This can also lead to us assigning values or qualities they don’t align with which ultimately feels like a betrayal when we find out who they might be. When boundaries end up being blurred like this, we might also feel like we are correcting a friend, holding a loved one accountable- but it isn’t as clear cut.
Dissociative Imagination (It’s all a game)-
This is something that can happen a lot in cyberbullying and other cybercrimes. People end up believing that they are a character (this can sound similar to the first two components shared here) online — combining this with an ability to be anonymous and invisible online can push people to other extremes of disinhibition. Cyberspace can feel like a separate community that does not have the same rules and responsibilities as the real world. You might have noticed rude comments followed by “If you are online and have a public account, you need to be open to rude comments or criticisms”. But imagine walking down the street and someone saying something nasty to you, most people would at least call the behavior out or at least acknowledge the depravity in these behaviors. But to many people, online environments aren’t real and so one’s identity isn’t the same as who they might be and they can shed that persona when they go offline and live according to the rules of the offline world.
Minimization of Status and Authority (Your Rules don’t apply here)
I remember back when I was a teenager, I had heard some of my friends and cousins talking about online anonymous confessions and how they could become toxic. Some of them shared seeing posts bashing schools and teachers and let out their emotions they couldn’t say to someone’s face. Some of those confessions happened due to valid unexpressed grievances but many found that only anonymity could allow freely saying this to authority figures. Online environments give everyone irrespective of their assigned social status to speak their minds but when unregulated it can become toxic and no constructive end can come from it.
These online behaviors might be different for different people
Suler gave this theory and the components I mentioned above back in 2004 and they still hold to a great degree. But some of these components don’t just exist online like- solipsistic introjection or dissociative imagination for example. We are all different to many degrees so we might go to the internet to learn something, to socialize, and simply pass time without being mean — Disinhibition can be both benign and toxic.
Unfortunately, we can’t always control what others say or think and when we are on the receiving end of such comments it can affect us a lot. However, there are new regulations to assess cyberbullying. There are steps to deal with cyberbullying, but they might not work for every situation either. Another thing is, that not every criticism shared is meant to be mean either, so being able to take a step back and trying to see what is shared can also allow us to have nuanced conversations (if needed).
There is not one single answer to why people are so boldly mean online but Suler attempted to understand the different ways our minds can perceive online environments. It can encourage people to show a spectrum of behaviors ranging from immense kindness and vulnerability to extreme rudeness and criminal intentions — like an online island similar to the one in Lord of the Flies.
References and Links used in the article:
Beyari, H. (2023, January 29). The relationship between social media and the increase in mental health problems. International journal of environmental research and public health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9915628/
Bandura, A., Suler, J., Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Lindner, E. G., Jenkins, L. N., & Fredrick, S. (n.d.). Cyberbullying Theories. Studocu. https://www.studocu.com/in/document/guru-nanak-dev-university/cyber-incident-handling-reporting/cyberbullying-theories/87086182
Emotion Wheels & Needs wheel. Human Systems. (2024, May 3). https://humansystems.co/emotionwheels/
Goodreads. (n.d.-a). A quote from not in god’s name. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7501493-the-internet-has-a-disinhibition-effect-you-can-be-ruder
Goodreads. (n.d.-b). Lord of the flies. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7624.Lord_of_the_Flies
Nixon, C. L. (2014, August 1). Current perspectives: The impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. Adolescent health, medicine and therapeutics. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126576/
Online disinhibition effect (Suler). Learning Theories. (2017, February 4). https://learning-theories.com/online-disinhibition-effect-suler.html
Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8451443_The_Online_Disinhibition_Effect
Zhang, Chang’an, Tang, L., & Liu, Z. (2023, September 22). How social media usage affects psychological and subjective well-being: Testing a moderated mediation model — BMC psychology. BioMed Central. https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01311-2
Zhang, Chang’an, Tang, L., & Liu, Z. (2023). How social media usage affects psychological and subjective well-being: Testing a moderated mediation model. BMC Psychology, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01311-2
