Anonymity, Speed of Communication, and the Power of the Hive Mind
The power of the hive mind.
It is the speed of communication on the Internet—not just the anonymity—that makes it such a dangerous place. Rumors that would have taken weeks to reach the public consciousness in the pre-Internet age can rouse the Twitchfork-wielding rabble in an instant.
There’s a quote attributed to psychology pioneer William James that voices the principle at work here: “there’s nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.”
That kind of mass-repetition can now happen on social media in a matter of minutes.
I’ve observed that once people have repeated … Continue reading
Continue reading 
Continue reading 
Recently, I found myself sitting with a patient Elsa, who was crying inconsolably in my office. It turns out that her sister had stolen her inheritance out from under her. It wasn’t the loss of the money that was making her feel so devastated, though; it was the shocking betrayal by her only sibling.
Continue reading 
