I have been noticing a growing trend for quite some time now. People are beating each other up, slapping each other, and throwing punches over the smallest, dumbest things. Every other week there is another viral video of someone losing their temper over a parking space, a minor traffic incident, or a few careless words.
Why?
Eureka! Eureka!! Eureka!!!
I think I found the answer.
“Fuck you, auto driver.”
“Taxi driver, you motherfucker.”
See? Nothing happened to me. I’m completely safe. Sitting behind a screen, I can abuse anyone I want. If they abuse me back, I can simply block them forever. Better still, the crowd rewards me with likes, comments, reshares, and applause for my clever insults.
Now take that same social media habit into the real world.
There are no likes.
There are no comments.
There is no block button.
The auto driver or the taxi driver isn’t going to sit down and type an angry reply. He might pull out a rod, remove his belt, or unleash every Shaolin technique he has learnt from watching Chinese movies. Suddenly, your witty one-liner is no longer a performance for an online audience. It has become a physical confrontation.
Social media has conditioned millions of people to believe that words have no physical consequences. The screen creates an illusion of immunity. It trains people to mistake digital courage for real courage.
But the real world has always operated by different rules.
Out there, actions still have consequences. Insults can provoke immediate reactions. Physical prowess often works far better than smart wordplay.
The tragedy is that too many people have forgotten where social media ends and real life begins. And every viral street fight is a reminder that reality doesn’t come with a mute button, a report option, or a block feature.