Insulation Breeds Artists and Assholes

When technology or context removes real‑time social costs—no faces, no future encounters, anonymous handles—people feel freer to follow self‑interest. That insulation can enable deep, original work but also amplify antisocial behavior (e.g., online cruelty, road rage). The same mechanism explains why some public figures seem to 'become their Twitter persona.' — This mechanism reframes debates on platform design, anonymity, and even urban transport by tying behavior changes to the loss of immediate social feedback.