• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 11, 2013

If you feel like the general tone of social media has taken a turn for the nasty in recent years, you’re not alone: according to an online survey of 2,698 people conducted in February by VitalSmarts, 78% of respondents said they have perceived an increase in rude behavior online, and 76% said they have witnessed arguments between other people over social media.

What’s more, online disputes easily spill over into the “real” world: two out of five people said they have decreased their personal contact with someone because of something they said or did online. Meanwhile 19% said they have blocked, unsubscribed, or “unfriended” someone after an online falling-out.

It seems clear that the sense of distance and anonymity created by social media prompts people to do and say things they probably wouldn’t do or say face-to-face. Here, 88% of respondents to the VitalSmarts survey said they believe people are less polite online than in person, and 81% said they have had arguments over social media that were never resolved.

Unsurprisingly, some of the most emotionally-fraught scenarios involved the intersection of social media and family and social media and the workplace -- both areas where a single ill-advised post, made in a moment of anger and bad judgment, can have long-lasting repercussions. One survey respondent said their family didn’t talk for two years after one sibling posted an unflattering photo of his sister and emailed it to all his contacts. It is also easy for workplace gossip in online chat forums to take on a nasty, vindictive (and clique-ish) edge.

In October of last year I wrote about a study by professors at Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh, who found that using Facebook increases our feelings of self-confidence and decreases our capacity for self-control. According to the study, the inflated feelings of self-worth and corresponding lack of impulse control may lead people to be more aggressive -- including taking offense, dishing out insults and picking fights -- as well as more impulsive in other important areas, including what and how much they eat and how much money they spend.

Indeed, the study found that people who spend more time online were also more likely to engage in binge eating, be overweight, and have large amounts of credit card debt. One part of the study found that people who spent five minutes on Facebook were more likely to choose a chocolate chip cookie over a granola bar for a snack.