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Pitfalls of Conflict in the Digital Age:
Quick judgment:
Our ancestors survived due to the ability to make quick judgments, Danger! Friend! Foe! For most of our history, quick thinking equaled survival. Today's digital communication turns the issue of speed on its head. Scrolling through posts, we encounter a vast array of ideas and opinions. Sitting on our couch with the world's knowledge in our hands, we still possess the evolutionary drive for survival, and our instincts nudge us to judge quickly.
Moral outrage:
Some recent research into the online conflict cycle suggests the combination of the quick response, adrenaline filled jousting, and human nature drawn to spectacle can be a toxic stew for conflict...there may even be an addictive aspect.
Bias and discrimination:
The digital age has driven a new form of the us and them ideology -- where people who differ, disagree or are unfamiliar become them and only those with our own embraced attributes are deemed as us. Mean spirited racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, homophobia, regionalism, etc., seem to be byproducts. As author and speaker Devorah Heitner says in her article Dealing with Digital Conflicts, "There is the tendency to feel less empathetic when there’s a screen in between."
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