[usconservative]

“One person will say it’s social media. But that’s blaming the medium. It would be kind of like blaming the telephone for a fight during a phone conversation. It’s not the telephone – it’s the people! Social media is no different.”

Social media is VERY different and the author completely misses why. The anonymity of social media using Twitter as one example permits people to say things that they'd never say in person. They can act out however they wish without fear of consequence. That is, for those who use Twitter and don't use their real names which is what, about 90% of the "twitterverse?"

Those who do speak out such as some idiot hollywood celebrity like, oh say Roseanne Barr then get attacked by millions of other idiots relentlessly (who are primarily anonymous of course) until they lose their jobs, incomes, etc..

Then there's Facebook. Need I say more there?

Those who infest (and I use that word deliberately) "social media" have gotten so used to expressing themselves via their bad behavior on those platforms that it's spread to everyday life.

So yes, I can absolutely assign blame to "social media" and specifically twitter and facebook for providing the very platforms for people to normalize their bad behavior on which enabled them to also do it in "real life."

We didn't have the non-stop public displays of uncivil animal-like behavior behavior until these "social media" platforms came along. Now it's just one uncivil asshole after another, after another seemingly in a contest to see "how uncivil can I be and get away with it?"

[Ransomed]

“We didn’t have the non-stop public displays of uncivil animal-like behavior behavior until these “social media” platforms came along.”

I agree, but of course evil the wound in our society is spiritual, at least in my opinion. It seemed to happen around the same time as the rise of social media.
Many social media platforms require that you express yourself as your real name and identity. People still say wild crap they would never say even though everyone knows who the other is. It isn’t all anonymous. I think the greater problem comes from social media where you reveal who you actually are.

The other thing I can think of that the downgrade in society corresponds to the rise of technology is the availability of internet porn.

Freegards