So is the internet actually increasing the number of these borderline psychopaths/sociopaths or is it just giving each individual more power to do damage?
Embedded in every tool is an ideological bias. Ex. To a person with a hammer everything is a nail. To a person with a pencil everything is a list. ...
The internet makes us differently think in a number of different ways. 1. I no longer need to remember things, or remember where or how to find things (remember encyclopedias and librarians) 2. I no longer have to rely on one source of stimulus (i can jump to the next video, finish this article later, )
There are more things but just from these two you are conditioned to not retain knowledge or understanding and react to the new shiny thing. I would say that to a person with internet everything is to immediately respond to.
What do you thing the end of the sentence should be "To a person with internet everything is _____"
My reasoning would be because tech companies have designed social platforms to reward shallow hot takes. If you say something provocative in the fewest amount of characters you generate the largest response. You are rewarded with karma/likes/votes/retweets. This we all know fuels dopamine reaction so it creates a cycle.
Short hot takes need to maximize the provocation of the statement. These short comments are easy to share and digest which is easy to create a short response towards.
Doing this over and over you have to devolve into crazy ass statements that resemble something a sociopath would say.
Positive status symbols are rewarded. Ex. pictures of a 5k, or the top of a hike or volunteering. All that feel good stuff has the same effect. You are curating your image for the audience and eventually you become that image.
It really encourages clique mentality one way or another and shoves people into echo chambers.