I've noticed a trend across the internet at large that I think stems from the increase in junk information: People have to be suspicious by default when it com

I've noticed a trend across the internet at large that I think stems from the increase in junk information: People have to be suspicious by default when it comes to information they see or hear online. More so over time. This has lead to the need for people to be increasingly defensive of their own views. There are two knock-on effects of this: It's easy to click 'reply' without actually replying. When someone leaves a comment, they are trying to say something. When someone responds, they aren't necessarily responding to what the person is saying. Subsequently, people talk past each other, both not feeling heard, both increasingly entrenched in the own views because the other person isn't formulating actual replies to their message. If we perceive someone trying to rebut our ideas, but failing miserably to do so, we become really sure those ideas are good. It's easy for defensiveness to turn into vitriol, because people tend to have conversations on the internet in a very off-the-cuff fashion, which doesn't lend itself to deep, considered, reasoning. It's very easy to miss, and subsequently ignore, holes in our arguments as we make them, and our suspicion prevents us from reconsidering them in the moment.