An affliction that causes people to say things to people over the distance of an Internet connection that, if they ever DARED to say to a person in a face-to-face conversation, would likely result in them getting knocked on their ass and maybe a trip to the hospital, but behind the safety of their monitor where nobody can physically touch them, they can behave like complete and utter shitbirds with no consequences, because as we all know, the Internet isn't real, of course, and the person you're mouthing off to isn't a real human being, with emotions of their own.
It is closely related to the similar affliction that causes people to become total sociopaths when behind the wheel of a car, where they are similarly safe from physical retribution.
It is closely related to the similar affliction that causes people to become total sociopaths when behind the wheel of a car, where they are similarly safe from physical retribution.
If the technology were invented tomorrow to make it possible to punch a person in the face over TCP/IP, Internet Badass Syndrome would vanish almost overnight, and the Internet would be the most civil, polite place ever.
by q359 July 25, 2023
Get the Internet Badass Syndrome mug.The chronic condition resulting from Internet Trauma, characterized by a pervasive distrust of digital technology, compulsive privacy-seeking behaviors (e.g., using burner phones, disk encryption, paranoia about cameras/mics), difficulty forming relationships due to fear of digital exposure, and existential anxiety about the permanence and searchability of one's identity online. It is the lived experience of having one's foundational sense of security and privacy irrevocably damaged by the networked nature of modern life, leading to a functional disability in a society that demands digital participation.
Example: A cybersecurity researcher who was doxxed and swatted by extremists now lives with Internet Trauma Syndrome. They physically tape over all device cameras and microphones, use a separate computer for every single online activity, employ complex voice changers on calls, and have panic attacks when required to fill out a digital form. Their expertise is in the very technology they now find terrifying. They are functionally disabled from participating in normal modern work, social, and civic life, not by a fear of the internet abstractly, but by the lived trauma of its predatory capabilities.
by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026
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