A new type of behavior has been forming in the digital world. It’s devilish. It’s outlandish. It’s offensive. In rare cases, it can be deadly. Now, what am I referring to do you ask? I’m talking about the horrible act of online criticism. People these days just can’t seem to contain themselves when online. Things that they normally wouldn’t even think of saying in person just seem to flow right out when on social media.

Studies have shown that behaviors such as “extraversion” and openness for experience are increased by a significant amount when people are submerged into the digital world compared to when they’re not. Whereas cooperativeness and consciousness are decreased when a person is online as opposed to when they are offline. In person, if you criticize what someone is saying, you may risk hurting their feelings or creating hostility. Online, you feel this type of barrier present that “blocks” what the person receiving the hatred is experiencing as a result of the nasty comment. The hater is therefore completely unaware of what the other person is experiencing and in turn, has no reason to care about the consequence of the act committed.

According to Wired.uk, there are also five other factors that psychologist John Suller said changes behavior online in a 2004 paper called “The Online Disinhibition Effect” along with  “anonymity (“my actions can’t be attributed to my person”); asynchronicity (“my actions do not occur in real-time”); solipsistic Introjection (“I can’t see these people, I have to guess at who they are and their intent”); dissociative imagination (“this is not the real world, these are not real people”); and minimizing authority (“there are no authority figures here, I can act freely”).”

One of these behaviors or a combination of them can lead a person acting differently online than when they are off from the monitor. Overall, people tend to be more honest, aggressive and obnoxious when in cyberspace. It can happen to the best of us. Though, there is evidence that some people are more susceptible to engage in this behavior than others. People who are shy in person tend to use the internet as a way of overcoming shyness, while extroverts use it to increase social dominance and to say something without dealing with the real world consequences. However, there are many cases when personalities don’t match when compared real world to internet.

According to Phys.org, “Research into how personality traits are filtered through the Web, especially the new breed of short-message online services, is slim, but digital-health experts have observed numerous transformations when someone ascends the Internet’s world stage. Whether a person is overly chatty or arrogant on Twitter doesn’t necessarily reflect on how he or she acts in the real world.”

No matter what personality type you are, there is one thing that must be agreed upon by all. This type of “I don’t care what I’m saying” behavior has to stop if it does not reflect who you are in real life. Whether on social media or in real life you should be true to yourself and to others a hundred percent of the time. You can either take the consequences of what that will mean or not say it at all anywhere. You have to be you. If you’re not yourself around people you care about, then, who are you?