Boorishness costs society far too much - Time to relearn our manners

Today’s report, that Gaelic football referee Patrick Nelis has described how aggressive, personalised online abuse directed at him after last year’s Tyrone county final pushed him to try to commit suicide, is the latest in a long — and lengthening — list of examples of how the principle of manners, of self-control, of respect for others, or even basic restraint, have been swept aside by the remoteness and anonymity afforded by social media.

Access to instant and unfettered communications has changed our world for the better but, as always, there is a price to pay. The toxic boorishness, more often than not unleashed by faceless, usually spineless critics, is often so virulent that ordinary, civilised people withdraw from online conversations leaving the field free to the most aggressive and often the least rational participants who, in time, set the new norms. Some, like Patrick Nelis, try to withdraw completely from the world where such abuse is commonplace, incomprehensible and just too hard to take.

The digital revolution has, according to extensive research, destroyed the idea manners and is leaving a generation of young people barely able to communicate. A growing dependency on text messaging, email and social networking sites is stunting the development of fundamental, face-to-face communication skills among young people. This inability to communicate effectively damages individuals’ career prospects and their ability to be convincing at job interviews or in delivering business presentations.