Is "touching grass" truly the solution to polarization in human interaction?

Question

Inspired by a recent and brief discussion with @OneViewpoint

Is "touching grass" truly the solution to polarization in human interaction? There are sayings like "in vino veritas", "drunk words reveal sober thoughts", and such, right? Something that occurred to me though is this: In a way though, doesn't the internet do much the same thing? If you will, "online words reveal offline thoughts". Does "touching grass", getting off the internet and social media really do anything these days to temper and inform the way someone sees the world, culture, politics, religion, and nature? Are we just smiling through our teeth at someone we meet in a coffee shop, grocery store, or restaurant that we might disagree with, only to trash them and those like them when we log in next? Or maybe, was that interaction genuine and people are just... well, kind of schizophrenic? They're one person offline and someone else when they're logged in?

Sure, there's certainly something in seeing a person's facial expressions, hearing their tone of voice, reading their body language, hearing the emotion in what they say, and actually hearing them tell their story. But based on another question I asked recently, people don't even trust marriage vows. They don't really trust much of anything. So they already go into a conversation not trusting that the person across from them is being honest, authentic, or sincere.

So is "touch grass" truly a good and reliable way to look at things? Or am I missing something?

LazerBean · Accepted Answer

Honestly, it really would help a lot of people. When someone says "touch grass", they are implying that the other person never leaves the house, gets no social interaction, lives online and has no grip on reality. And some people really are like that.

There are people who base their opinions on what they see coming up on their social media feeds. Not even actual statistics that can be found online, just social media posts. But those feeds are literally customized based on what the algorithm sees that particular person shows interest in seeing. They then come to conclusions that they would not have if they would have had an amount of social interaction that was normal 20 years ago. Not only that, but there are so many content creators now whose strategy to get clicks (which in turn, they hope, gets them money) is by making posts that spike peoples emotions. And it works, much of the time without people even realizing that it's just click bait.

Agape93 · Accepted Answer

Ita just a dipshits way of dismissing you when they have no real means to discredit you

Chazmatazz269 · Accepted Answer

The anonymity and lack of meaningful consequences for bad behavior on the internet 100% leads to progressively worse behavior on the internet. Real world consequences like being shunned, harassed or even physically assaulted limits antisocial behavior to a greater extent. We’re seeing a number of radicals come out from behind their keyboards and get themselves into trouble. That still pales in comparison to the millions of terrible things being posted online daily. So, yeah, touching grass, otherwise known as practicing real social interaction in person where the connection and stakes are real, is probably the simplest solution to the radical polarization of media and internet culture.

Smart_Monk · Accepted Answer

If you mean by touching grass "getting off internet", then no, people managed to be emotionally chaotic (and trash who they smiled at) before internet existed. It is not a guaranteed working solution.

RavVid · Answer

Logic only goes so far and there has to be premises in common such as 1 + 1 = 2 to have logical discussion. People without premises in common will never agree.

To me it is better to question what premises cause people to think Y and you are better to ask why they think Y.

Touching grass physically is grounding Especially walking barefoot on it.

Iron_Man · Answer

He’s not a good influence on people and he’s not religious

Is "touching grass" truly the solution to polarization in human interaction?

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Do emotional connections usually end up being felt by both parties?

Is "touching grass" truly the solution to polarization in human interaction?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Do emotional connections usually end up being felt by both parties?

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