The Psychology of Why Youre Better Than Everyone Else
Written by Brett Brostrom, Posted on , in Section Teens & Tweens
If you’ve spent anytime on one of the internet’s many online forums, looked at YouTube comments, you will have noticed the (often) self-serving, self-righteous, biased opinions of whatever anonymous user you’ve had the opportunity of reading. Every now and then you might be able to find comments that are constructive and contribute to the conversation, but not usually. Why are people so convinced that they’re always right or better than everyone else?
Some people have different tastes. Jim might prefer Pepsi while John likes Coke. Sally might have an iPhone, and Jane might have an Android device. That’s all well and good until you get these two types of people, the “fanboys”, together. It’s almost like they’re different people, arguing that the iPhone is always going to be better than any Android device, that Ford is better than Dodge, that Pepsi is better than Coke. Getting these types of people in the same room is like starting another World War. They are so convinced that they are right and anybody that disagrees with them is an idiot.
Brad Thorne, a 40-something IT manager who considers himself a Microsoft “fanboy” says “I’m a missionary,” says Thorne. “For me, it’s about being super passionate and super knowledgeable about their products, and not leaving that passion at the door when you leave work. You preach it all the time.”
Why Are People So Crazy?
Thanks to the Internet, there exists a setting perfect for people to voice their opinions where potentially millions of people can see it. Take smartphone users, for example, who are very passionate about their devices, and they are always connected to the Internet. Essentially, Apple and Android products do pretty much the same thing. But people rage over which device is better. Aaron Baker, a tech journalist, says that “we’ve entered an era of heightened belligerence, brought on, paradoxically, by the fact that phones are becoming more alike.
It used to be that phone debates were solely about specs: which device had the most processing power, better battery life, highest screen definition, and so forth. Now, we’re entering a time when phones have mostly achieved the same benchmarks on those fronts. The competition is becoming: Do you like the way the touchscreen works? The colors of the interface? The size of the device?”
Another part of the reason people get so crazy is that these types of thing have a certain culture attached to them. Owning that products infers that you are a part of that culture, and if someone doesn’t identify with that culture then you’re wrong and they’re right and there is no way around it. The anonymity of the internet allows people to speak their lowest, most barbaric thoughts without consequence, and it makes for one heck of a discussion.
