AIBU to think Charlie Brooker, by and large, has this right?

[DoesntBodenWell]

Reading his column today about sharing information on the internet. Halfway through he says..

'People already create exaggerated versions of themselves for online consumption: snarkier tweets, more outraged reactions. Online, you play at being yourself'

Now I'm not suggesting that this is the case for everybody, but just lately I've read quite a few 'aggressive' posts on here and thought 'you would never say that if the OP was stood in front of you'.

I, myself, have posted under a different user name my more 'snarky' responses. I know for a fact that I would probably never have the guts to say it in RL.

I don't necessarily think that I'm being more honest (saying what I acually think), because I could say the same thing in a less 'snarky' way if I wanted to, but I don't because being anonymous makes me less considerate, if you like.

Anyway, this is my musing for the day!!!!

I am much less strident online than I am in rl. I think if its written down it's out there in black and white and therefore censor myself so I can't offend anyone too much.
I used to like Charlie Brooker, now I just think he's getting money for old rope.

Oh I like Charlie, he's strangely attractive.

Interesting that you are less strident albert, I guess writing online means (for some) that you can consider your reply, in a way that you can't in RL. Which I suppose makes the upleasant responses more unpleasant, as people have the luxury of reviewing their responses before sending it out into the ether.

The rest of his article was also about how much more we share, so as well as the aggressive tone you talk about here, there's also the banality of some people's status updates. I think it's the combination of the two that makes the internet such a weird place - one second a person can be tweeting the world that they're currently eating a slice of toast and the next they can be using utterly vile language to tell a total stranger that they are the spawn of satan simply for choosing to bottle feed rather than breast (to use an example with which we are all oh so familiar). It's creating a world of Dr Jeckylls.