article_snippet: The clinical director of Psychological Systems in central London said people using social media were less likely to feel empathy or compassion towards others.
article_snippet: Likening the phenomenon to road rage, Dr Richard Sherry said: 'This research shows that, if anything, the online space seems to be robbing us of some of the most fundamental aspects of our humanity. '
article_snippet: When using these sites, people are less likely to feel empathy, patience or compassion towards others; people are significantly quicker to judge and more dangerously reactive in people anger.'
article_snippet: Dr Sherry said that like motorists, users of social websites feel protected behind social websites screens.
article_snippet: social websites are also emboldened by the relative anonymity and the distance between social websites and the person social websites are being rude to.
article_snippet: The psychologist, who would like some social media websites to carry warnings that some social media websites can make people more impulsive, said: 'The psychological damage we can cause to we and others must undoubtedly be taken into account when interacting via social media. '
article_snippet: Peter Clayton, founder of Pencourage, which bans textspeak and encourages positive messages, said that people are clearly more antagonistic and judgemental on traditional social networking sites and 'now specialists even have a name for it'.
article_snippet: A recent study of Facebook pages of people in southern Italy found that fewer than 10 per cent of comments were negative – and even those used wit and irony to get their point across, rather than hate.
highlights_snippet: Social media users feel distanced from target of abuse, says psychologist .
  