Internet trolls are just as mean in real life: New study debunks theory that people are only nasty while posting anonymously online

  • Researchers also found that people who are nice may choose to avoid all political discussions online - whether the forums are hostile or not
  • The researchers did find that the hostility levels of online political discussions are worse than offline discussions
  • Study co-author Michael Bang Petersen said the behavior of an internet troll 'is much more visible' than the behavior of the same person offline
  • The researchers began the paper with an apparent dig at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was named the Time Magazine 'Person of the Year' in 2010 
  • The researchers noted that efforts from social media giants to get people to engage in civil discussions on topics such as politics have failed spectacularly 
  • 'Online discussions about politics turned out to be nasty, brutish and not nearly short enough,' the researchers wrote Internet bullies are just as mean in real life, according to a new study. 

    The study, from the political science department at Aarhus University, debunks the long-held theory that people are only nasty while posting anonymously online.

    It also found that people who are nice may choose to avoid all political discussions online - whether the forums are hostile or not, according to the study published in the American Political Science Review

    The researchers did find that the hostility levels of online political discussions are worse than offline discussions, but that the frequency of behaviour was about the same online and in real life.

    Michael Bang Petersen, the professor who co-authored the study, told the magazine Engineering & Technology that the behavior of an internet troll 'is much more visible' than the behavior of the same person offline.

    'Our research shows that the reason many people feel that online political discussions are so hostile has to do with the visibility of aggressive behaviour online,' Peterson told the magazine.

    Internet trolls are mean just as often online as they are in real life, according to a new study which has debunked a theory that people are nicer in person than when they can post on websites anonymously

    Internet trolls are mean just as often online as they are in real life, according to a new study which has debunked a theory that people are nicer in person than when they can post on websites anonymously

    The study published in the American Political Science Review by researchers with the political science department at Aarhus University

    The study published in the American Political Science Review by researchers with the political science department at Aarhus University

    The researchers began the paper with an apparent dig at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was named the Time Magazine 'Person of the Year' in 2010.

    'Facebook wants to populate the wilderness, tame the howling mob and turn the lonely, antisocial world of random chance into a friendly world,' the Time Magazine article on Zuckerberg reads, as cited by the researchers.

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