Republished from Baptist Bulletin April/May 2017 with permission. © Regular Baptist Press, all rights reserved.

by Daryl A. Neipp

In 2013, researchers conducted an online survey and discovered that 78 percent of users have experienced a rise in arguments and hostility within social media platforms.

Specific findings include these:

• 3 in 4 have witnessed an argument on social media;
• 4 in 5 report rising incivility online;
• 2 in 5 have blocked, unsubscribed, or unfriended someone as a result;
• 1 in 5 have reduced in-person contact with someone over a cyber argument;
• 88 percent believe that people are less polite on social media than in person;
• 81 percent say emotional conversations held on social media are most often unresolved.