69because social norms deter such things.
Subtle signs of discomfort in those around you,
awkward body language and responses, muted
atmospheres... these all act to keep gregarious
or overly personal tendencies in check,
to some extent.
However, such cues aren’t present online,
so you can be as overly expressive or personal
as you like on there. But other people may find
this unsettling or off-putting, or could see it
as cynical attention-seeking. Either way,
they react aggressively, and attack the person.
But social networks also protect the attacker
from the consequences of their actions,
introducing a distance and degree of anonymity
between themselves and their victim, shielding
them from the immediate effects, but supplying
the same ‘rush’ of having lowered someone’s
status and boosted
their own. So social
networks again become
a way to facilitate and
perpetuate antisocial
actions.
Social networks also
give us the ability to
pick and choose what
we see and hear from
others, meaning we can
end up in the oft-cited
‘echo chamber’. Social
networks make it much
easier to form groups,
and constantly remain
part of them. This can
give us a more ‘extreme’
leanings, making more
intolerant of
contrasting views as
we grow unused to
encountering them.
What should be a casual
meet-up in a pub can become a blistering row
about a football team. Antisocial behaviour,
caused by social networks.
It’s not all doom and gloom. More nervous
or socially awkward people can be liberated
by the controlled and organised communication
offered by social networks, and great friendships
and relationships can form across the world now
that would never have been able to exist before.
But the truth is, for all that they may sometimes
not work that well, the human brain has evolved
a variety of systems to make sure social interaction
happens as efficiently as possible. Social
networks, though, throw many spanners in
the works here, causing overall disruption,
which can sometimes mean they end up
achieving the opposite of what they’re built for,
and making people antisocial.
Like and share this article if you agree!look bad – that is when they were choosing
behaviours to make people dislike them. If they
were choosing behaviours that made them look
good, there was no detectable difference to normal
brain activity. Coupled with the fact that subjects
were much faster at processing behaviours
that made them look good as opposed to bad,
the conclusion was that presenting a positive
image of ourselves to others is what the brain is
doing all the time! It’s the brain’s default state.
Granted, it was a small and limited study,
but it’s an interesting outcome nonetheless.
And if we’re constantly focused on presenting
a positive image of ourselves, it’s no wonder social
networks are so popular, as they offer a much
greater sense of control of how we come across.
But this control is a double-edged sword.
Even if you’re just sitting with friends,
the tendency to check
your phone rather
than talk can be
overwhelming. The
brain is usually averse
to risk, preferring
predictable options over
less certain ones, and
the cool, calm interface
on the screen is often
subconsciously more
reassuring than
the chaotic conversation
going on around you.
The people you’re with
may consider this
behaviour antisocial.
And rightly so.
More worryingly,
a 2015 survey of men
aged 18 to 40 by Jesse
Fox and Margaret
Rooney in the journal
Personality And
Individual Differences revealed that the amount of
time spent on social networking sites, posting
selfies and, revealingly, editing selfies to make
them look better, was correlated with traits like
narcissism and psychopathy. This isn’t to say
social networks cause these things, but they offer
an outlet, a way for them to be expressed free of
consequence, where they may otherwise be
criticised or challenged, thus ensuring more
socially acceptable behaviours.
Another intriguing finding, from a 2015
study led by Prof Joy Peluchette at Lindenwood
University, was that certain types of behaviour on
social networks – namely extroversion and
‘openness’ – actually increase the odds of being a
victim of cyberbullying. It may sound
counterintuitive, but it makes a certain amount of
sense. A person may typically keep their more
flamboyant or expressive natures suppressed,Spending time socialising with people can be hard
work for the brainPHOTOS: GETTY X3