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Microsoft Social Networks Stats The Internet

Microsoft Survey Shows Negative Online Interactions Affect People In Real Life (computerworld.com) 60

"Preliminary results of a new Microsoft survey show nearly two-thirds of people surveyed had at least one negative online experience that had an impact on them in the real world, ranging from a loss of trust in others, increased stress or sleep deprivation," reports Computerworld. Microsoft's chief online safety officer writes: Both adults and teens said they became less trusting of others in the real world after a negative interaction online (adults: 31%, teens: 29%). Consequences to adults that outpaced those to teens included the older generation becoming less trusting of people online (42% of adults vs. 37% of youth), and a reluctance to participate in blogs and other online forums (23% of adults vs. 20% of teens)... The study, "Civility, Safety and Interaction Online -- 2016," polled youth ages 13-17 and adults ages 18-74 in 14 countries... Half reported being "extremely or very" worried about online risks generally, with the most common concerns being unwanted contact (43%) and various forms of harassment (39%).
Microsoft's blog post urges people to "Embrace digital civility and model healthy behaviors for young people both online and off" -- and also notes that today is World Kindness Day.
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Microsoft Survey Shows Negative Online Interactions Affect People In Real Life

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  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday November 13, 2016 @10:09AM (#53275683)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • You ah...looked at FB page? Or even a FB comments system on various sites including news sites in the last oh 8 years, where peoples real names are included. That's some of the most vitriolic stuff you'll ever see, because people can be identified and in turn can be intimidated. Hell look at the number of cases where someone has been "identified" for posting something that's contrary to another person, and they'll get their friends/followers/etc to try and get them fired for it. Much more difficult to do if you're anonymous. FYI: Raping and pillaging wasn't because people didn't know who was doing it. It was precisely because the loser would know exactly who was doing it to them. The entire point was intimidation, fear, and imposing their power over individuals. An individual doing it would be a nameless person in that crowd, but everyone knew who was doing it.

  • by NotInHere ( 3654617 ) on Sunday November 13, 2016 @10:11AM (#53275699)

    I'm sure that people who had negative interactions online are horrible for your ad based business.

  • by CanadianRealist ( 1258974 ) on Sunday November 13, 2016 @10:12AM (#53275703)

    Thankfully I've never been attacked with sticks and stones. And you can't be attacked with sticks and stones through the internet.

    But contrary to the old saying, names can and frequently do hurt, as they are intended to do. And calling people names and any other sort of verbal abuse is very easy online. Likely much easier than it is in real life since you don't even have to see the person you are abusing.

    At the same time online abuse may in some ways be less painful or threatening since your abuser is not present. A threat to do physical harm is much scarier when the person is actually right in front of you. However the sheer number of people online means you will probably be subject to much more such abuse online than in person.

    On of the great things about the internet is that it can connect you to all sorts of wonderful resources. Unfortunately it also connects you to every abusive, vile, stupid (etc. etc.) person anywhere on the planet.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      There was a great article in Scientific American a while back that proved that emotional pain was real pain, in the sense that it activated all the same areas of the brain that physical pain would. With that idea being supported by data, I would state that purposefully inflicting emotional pain should carry the same weight as purposefully inflicting physical pain.

      We have a national crisis on our hands in terms of mental health. Perhaps one of the fuels feeding such a crisis is the extreme lack of empathy,

    • by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

      And you can't be attacked with sticks and stones through the internet.

      Peter Griffin would disagree with you. [youtube.com]

    • Proverbs 12:18 Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal.
  • Why would a negative experience interacting online be any different in how it affects us vs a negative experience interacting offline? Have we all be interacting with 'bots online instead of real people?
    • A lot of people act like "on-line" "doesn't matter" because it's "not the real world". But since the internet is really just a collection of things which exist here in meatspace, that's exceptionally stupid.

  • the most common concerns being unwanted contact (43%) and various forms of harassment (39%).

    The two qualifiers to this would be the level of "community" where the negative interaction took place and whether the individual receiving this negative interaction was identifiable or using a pseudonym.

    One can imagine that "public" humiliation would result in a worse outcome for the recipient. Where the individual could be identified in the real world. Possibly even physically encountering their abuser.

    However, the level of sensitivity of individuals varies widely. Some are resilient enough to shrug o

  • This morning I did a mass unfollowing on Twitter. Amazing the amount of vitriol that's been going through the past few months, from people who up until this year were mostly interesting to me for their ability to entertain. That and all that bitcoin crap that I never bothered to purge. Here's hoping my feed can get back to hobbies and tech news again.

    • This morning I did a mass unfollowing on Twitter.

      I cut out the middleman by not having a Twitter account, lol.

      Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to "follow" anyone. I don't care what their next bon mot or timeless bit of 140-character wisdom will be. I don't want to be interrupted every minute or so by hearing about someone's "awesome lunch" or what their cat did or how Biff and Mandy are breaking up again. I guess it boils down to the fact that I just don't care.

      I've looked through a lot of Twitter comments in the last several years and although some o

  • All three of these happened in the last year and have changed how I use the internet. On a thread about physical exercise that was rather productive and reasonable i said i tried swimming for a year but had to give it up because breathing small amounts of chlorine vapor-droplets got in my sinuses and caused coughing fits the next day. Also, when i swam hard it put stress on my elbows because i was pulling myself through the water. When i picked up heavy things my elbows hurt from the strain. Somebody to
  • Honestly, I think people should be less trusting of people, especially when it comes to businesses. The sooner people recognize that everyone has their own agenda then the better off everyone will be.

  • ....especially in the bloodsucksers from Microsoft.
  • God wants us to be good and loving to everyone. This should also be done online. Encourage others and be nice to them. You might find people encouraging you back when they succeed.
  • Also, things said on the telephone affect people "in real life".

  • Way more than social media, buggy MS software and wimpy tech support have cost me weeks of sleep and degraded all areas of my life. Let's see THAT study.

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

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