Social media spreads rage but kindness can stop it in its tracks: shots

Even if you are not aware of it, it is likely that your emotions will influence your surroundings today.

This can happen during our most basic exchanges, for example during your commutes. "If someone smiles at you, you smile at them," says sociologist Nicholas Christakis of Yale University. "It's a very fleeting contagion of emotions from one person to another."

But that does not stop there. Emotions can spread through social networks almost like flu or colds. And, the extent to which emotions can cascade opens the eyes.

For example, Christakis research has shown that if you start to be happier with your life, a friend living nearby has a 25% greater chance of becoming happy. And your partner is more likely to feel better too. Happiness can even spread to people with whom you are indirectly connected.

To document this, Christakis and his colleagues mapped the face-to-face interactions of about 5,000 people living in a city over the past 32 years. Their emotional ups and downs have been documented with periodic surveys. "We were able to show that when a person became happy or sad, it had repercussions on the network," said Christakis.

It's not just happiness that spreads, misfortune and anger can also be contagious.

And you do not have to be in the same house or the same city to capture the emotions of someone else. There is evidence that emotional contagion can also spread through our digital interactions.

Say, you are in a negative mood and send a text message to your partner. A study titled "I'm sad, you're sad" has shown that in these types of text exchanges, your partner is likely to feel your emotion and reflect it.

So, where is it going? A study of nearly 700,000 Facebook users suggests that we can also capture the emotions we encounter in our social media feeds and reflect them.

As part of the study, news feeds from users have been changed. Some people in the study began to see more positive messages, while others began to see more negative messages.

"We found that when good things happened in your news feed (for your friends and family), you also tended to write more positively and negatively," says Jeff Hancock, Communications Researcher. at Stanford University and author of two studies on digital. the interactions

And the opposite was also true. Seeing more negative messages has caused people to write more sad or angry things. Overall, the effects were very small compared to what was documented in face-to-face interactions, "but [the study] suggested that emotions can cross networks through contagion, "says Hancock.

Many of us have seen this play in our social media, especially on Twitter. In the late evening, TV host Jimmy Kimmel mocks angry tweets by asking celebrities and athletes to read aloud the bad things that have been told about them on Twitter. "Draymond Green's shot is almost as ugly as his face," NBA player Draymond Green told an audience last June. "Whoa!" the audience responded.

It's funny in the moment. But when you are the victim of a personal attack, it is hurtful. And that increases the chances of you getting fucked back.

A study revealed that there was perhaps a little troll in all of us. If you read a nasty message from a troll that tells a sarcasm or a personal attack and you feel moody, research shows that you are more likely to copy the behavior of the troll.

Bottom Line: It's easier to be mean behind a screen. Rules of face-to-face interaction do not exist. "There are fewer signals," says Hancock. You do not see or hear anyone when you receive your tweet or message. "It makes it a little harder to think of you as a person," he says.

That's what happened to a Twitter user, Michael Beatty, who lives in Alabama. He is 65 years old and served in the army during the Vietnam War. Earlier this year, he was surprised when he read a tweet written by comedian and actor Patton Oswalt. It was a negative tweet about President Trump.

"So, I had a reflex reaction," Beatty told us. "I sent him two tweets."

Beatty says he told Oswalt: "I liked seeing your character in [the movie] Trinity Blade die so horribly. In another tweet, he was making fun of the height of the actor.

Looking back, Beatty says, "It was hard, without appeal, embarrassing."

And Patton Oswalt's answer? The actor flipped through Beatty's diet and learned that he had serious health problems. After a long stay at the hospital, he had medical bills piling up.

The next thing Beatty knew, was that Oswalt had donated $ 2,000 to Beatty's GoFundMe account and encouraged his millions of followers to follow his example. "This guy just attacked me on Twitter and joked me back, but I looked at his schedule and he has a lot of health problems," Oswalt tweeted. "I'll be pissed off too, and we'll give him some ***** cards – let's make him good."

Beatty started hearing from Patton Oswalt's supporters. Some gave money, others sent encouraging messages. His GoFundMe account has reached approximately $ 50,000.

The generosity of Patton Oswalt is extended. "It had a big cascade effect," says Beatty. "Honestly, I really thought I was dreaming and that it could not happen in real life."

An act of kindness led to the other.

"I realized that the knee reflex was reacting to things [are] not the way to go, "said Beatty, which led him to slow down and think. What kind of person have I been? "he wondered.

He said that when he had written these angry tweets, he was misplaced, angry with himself for letting his health deteriorate: "It was easy to go back and scold."

But Beatty says the empathy shown towards him has changed. He began to think, "People are good." He realizes that politics divides people, but one-on-one, "people are caring, generous, helpful."

In the past month, he said he felt his anger disappear. This manifests itself in many ways. For example, he had a lot of road rage. But now, "if someone wants to finish, I'll sign him in," Beatty says. "I have changed."

This story reminds us of what we should already know (and, hopefully, keeping in mind Mr. Rogers): "It's good for us to be nice," Jeff said. Hancock.

Not only is it good for the world around us, it makes us feel a lot better and disarms anger.

"There is plenty of scientific evidence that when you are kind or you express your gratitude, you get all kinds of psychological benefits," Hancock said.

So, next time you are tempted to answer an angry message, you may remember this story.

Anger leads to more anger. But a single act of kindness can help stop the spread.