KUSA -- Chances are you found this article on Facebook -- maybe Twitter -- and that means chances are the post regarding this article (or most others on your feed) has some ridiculously hateful and non-constructive comments posted by someone hiding behind a profile.
That led to 9NEWS reporter Jonathan Gonzalez and photojournalist Chris Cheline to wonder, "Why do we do that?"
So we posed that question to Dr. Samuel Jay, an assistant professor in the Communications Arts and Sciences Department at Metro State University of Denver.
"It is just as if social media is this cathartic outlet for people to say what they want to say," Jay said. "I think pre-social media, people simply just couldn't do it. You had to have a certain level of credibility, often times an education."
Most people who spend a decent amount of time on social media know that an argument can be sparked on nearly any topic -- just delve into any decently long comment section and awaiting you will be off-topic comments full of hate.
Jay said the beauty of social media is that -- at its core -- it's a powerful tool to connect people around the world. Though, he adds, maybe society hasn't learned how to figure out just how to use in a consistently positive way.
"What happens is what is valued changes. What is valued is now what gets attention, what gets clicks," he explained. "What that means is what matters is attention and eyeballs, not so much affecting change."
But Jay said change can be brought about with such a powerful medium -- if we are truly capable of having constructive conversations.
"People often think about arguments in a very negative sense, as something that doesn't get anywhere, but the argument -- it's imperative to a democratic society," he said. "I think you just have to realize that they're people, right? I mean, it's no different that one social group not caring for another social group."
"I think empathy is really key, right? Empathy and understanding and identification is really key to any productive conversation," Jay added.
