{"id":19565,"date":"2026-01-29T14:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:17:52","slug":"anti-social-media-fifteen-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565","title":{"rendered":"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase “anti\u2011social media” to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from face\u2011to\u2011face conversation into the anonymous expanse of the internet. Revisiting those old posts now \u2014 some written as far back as 2011 \u2014 it\u2019s striking how little has changed, and how much worse some of the underlying dynamics have become.<\/p>\n

In one of the earliest pieces<\/a>, I quoted Aeschylus: \u201cIn war, truth is the first casualty.\u201d I added that \u201cthe ability to engage in intellectual civil discourse must rank right up there.\u201d That observation came during the usage\u2011based billing debates, when Twitter was still relatively new and the idea of strangers hurling insults at one another online still felt novel. I wrote<\/a> then that \u201cadherence to truth and reasoned thinking is clearly not a prerequisite for publishing on Twitter,\u201d a line that unfortunately reads today as understatement rather than critique.<\/p>\n

The pattern was already visible. In 4 degrees of impersonal communications<\/a>, I described how people speak differently depending on the medium: face\u2011to\u2011face, over the phone, in email, and finally on the web \u2014 the \u201cfourth degree,\u201d where the audience is global and the record is permanent. Paradoxically, the more public the forum, the less care people seem to take with their words. The anonymity of the medium becomes a shield, and sometimes a weapon.<\/p>\n

That theme resurfaced again and again. In 2016, I wrote<\/a> about being accused on Twitter of being \u201ccongenitally incapable of accurately representing ppl\u2019s views,\u201d a comment that arrived not after a heated argument but after a simple observation about a witness evading a question at a CRTC hearing. The exchange was a reminder that, as I put it then, \u201cthere are no referees on the field in Twitter; no red flags for unsportsmanlike conduct; no personal fouls.\u201d The miracle of modern communications allows us to follow regulatory hearings from halfway around the world, but it also allows complete strangers to lob insults from behind cartoon avatars.<\/p>\n

By 2021, the problem had grown more acute. A promoted tweet linking to a post on Mythbusting Canadian telecom<\/a> generated thousands of views \u2014 and a torrent of replies, many of them anonymous, some of them antisemitic. I noted at the time<\/a> that a surprising number of the trolls used cat images or Soviet\u2011era icons, as if the choice of avatar were itself a form of camouflage. \u201cHiding in their mom\u2019s basement behind the safety of a shield of anonymity,\u201d I wrote, \u201cit seems too easy to spread hate and be downright anti\u2011social on some social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The behaviour wasn\u2019t new, but the scale was. And the emotional toll was real. I wasn\u2019t offering a solution then, and I\u2019m not sure there is a simple one now. But there was value in naming the problem, in acknowledging that something about the architecture of online discourse encourages people to abandon the norms they would follow in any other setting.<\/p>\n

One of the most enduring pieces in this thread is Being a mensch<\/a>, written in 2018. It wasn\u2019t about telecom or regulation at all. It was about decency \u2014 about treating people with respect, whether they are waiters, busboys, flight attendants, or strangers online. I wrote that \u201cwe led a generation to believe that the internet meant a democratization of interaction with everyone; some trolls help demonstrate the corollary: while they may have ability to have their message broadcast, people still retain the ability to ignore them.\u201d That remains true, but it also feels insufficient in an era when online abuse has become a defining feature of public discourse.<\/p>\n

The 2022 post Purveying hate on the public dime<\/a> brought the issue into sharper focus. It wasn\u2019t just about anonymous trolls anymore. It was about the real\u2011world consequences of lax enforcement and the uncomfortable fact that public funds were, in some cases, supporting individuals who had been suspended from platforms for their hateful conduct. The question I asked then \u2014 \u201cShould the Government of Canada be funding purveyors of hate?\u201d \u2014 feels even more relevant today as governments grapple with online safety legislation and the boundaries of free expression.<\/p>\n

Looking back across these posts, a through\u2011line emerges. The technology has evolved, the platforms have changed, and the stakes have grown, but the core issue remains the same: an erosion of civility in digital spaces. Social media promised connection, democratization, and community. Too often, it has delivered the opposite. As Andy Rutledge wrote in his essay Anti\u2011social Media<\/a> \u2014 a piece I\u2019ve recommended for years \u2014 \u201cmuch of the social media has become a venue for us to practice our most anti\u2011social behavior and exercise our basest motivations.\u201d That line has aged remarkably well.<\/p>\n

The question I asked in 2011<\/a> still lingers: Can we rise above anti\u2011social behaviour in social media or develop better filters to shut out the noise? Fifteen years later, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019re any closer to an answer. But the need for one has only grown.<\/p>\n

What I do know is that the values we teach our kids \u2014 decency, respect, menschlichkeit<\/em> \u2014 matter just as much online as they do offline. Perhaps more. The technology will continue to evolve. The platforms will come and go. But the responsibility to act like a mensch, even when no one is watching and even when the audience is global, remains unchanged.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s the real antidote to anti\u2011social media. Not new rules or new algorithms, but old\u2011fashioned decency, applied consistently, even in the fourth degree of communication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase “anti\u2011social media” to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from face\u2011to\u2011face conversation into the anonymous expanse of the internet. Revisiting those old posts now \u2014 some written as far back as 2011 \u2014 it\u2019s striking how little has changed, and how …<\/p>\n

Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAnti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase "anti\u2011social media" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase "anti\u2011social media" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Telecom Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mark_goldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f\"},\"headline\":\"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565\"},\"wordCount\":934,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565\",\"name\":\"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase \\\"anti\u2011social media\\\" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=19565\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Telecom Trends\",\"description\":\"A Canadian perspective on trends in telecom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/mark_logo_png.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/mark_logo_png.png\",\"width\":3484,\"height\":1444,\"caption\":\"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mark_goldberg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mhgoldberg.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f\",\"name\":\"Mark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark\"},\"description\":\"Mark Goldberg has more than 40 years of international experience in strategic planning, managing, designing and implementing telecommunications carrier networks.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.mhgoldberg.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mark_goldberg\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends","description":"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase \"anti\u2011social media\" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends","og_description":"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase \"anti\u2011social media\" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026","og_url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565","og_site_name":"Telecom Trends","article_published_time":"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3484,"height":1444,"url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mark_goldberg","twitter_site":"@mark_goldberg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565"},"author":{"name":"Mark","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f"},"headline":"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later","datePublished":"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565"},"wordCount":934,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565","name":"Anti\u2011social media, 15 years later • Telecom Trends","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-29T19:49:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-29T20:17:52+00:00","description":"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase \"anti\u2011social media\" to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from • January 29, 2026","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=19565"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/","name":"Telecom Trends","description":"A Canadian perspective on trends in telecom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc.","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mark_logo_png.png","width":3484,"height":1444,"caption":"Mark H Goldberg & Associates Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/mark_goldberg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7a2b80bac06ee3d5cacca8c7708bfe8f","name":"Mark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351a7c78c378da7db6aac956985487573ab74c25cb83c460c715fa6d0fcfa7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark"},"description":"Mark Goldberg has more than 40 years of international experience in strategic planning, managing, designing and implementing telecommunications carrier networks.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mhgoldberg.com","https:\/\/x.com\/mark_goldberg"]}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"tenweb_optimizer_mobile":false,"tenweb_optimizer_tablet":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Mark","author_link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"More than a decade ago, I started using the phrase “anti\u2011social media” to describe the strange behavioural shift that happens when people move from face\u2011to\u2011face conversation into the anonymous expanse of the internet. Revisiting those old posts now \u2014 some written as far back as 2011 \u2014 it\u2019s striking how little has changed, and how…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19565"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19569,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19565\/revisions\/19569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}