Augusten Burroughs Quotes

The Internet is a blessing and a curse. I mean, it's a place where lots of people can express themselves, which is amazing, but it's a place where a lot of people can express themselves that probably should keep those expressions to themselves.

There's just a proliferation of blogs and the chattering classes and people talking. More avenues for people to make their feelings known, which is good.

People feel emboldened to say things on the Internet they wouldn't in person.

Particularly on social media, there is that level of detachment, some people feel like they can say whatever pops in their head .

Anyone with an Internet service provider can be a pundit or whatever they want.

Twitter's a funny one. I mean, it's good in some respects, but I can't stand it in other respects. You know there are too many opinions, people get opinions mixed up, and people get being rude mixed up with 'that's my opinion.'

That's what I love about the Internet. Even if it's small-scale and you're just posting on a forum, that's an uncensored expression. That's what I love.

I love the Internet, and I love that you can say whatever you want.

I've quite often written tweets that I think are across that line, but I just delete them.

I've noticed a lot of people are very bold and blustery on Twitter because it's easy to do that with the poison keyboard and a hundred and forty characters.

I don't control what people say. I don't control what people put on dot-com or anything else.

If I was on Twitter, I'd probably get in trouble pretty quickly.

The whole social media thing is ridiculous. Everybody gets to say what they want all the time. That's fine in theory, but it's not civilised. Imagine going into a bar, and everybody in that bar is talking like people do online. They'd just get their teeth punched in.

On the internet nobody can hear you being subtle.

I've been a jerk on the internet since the internet started.

Some people we define as trolls are just critics. Sometimes they have a point. And I hear them. But for the ones who comment "I want to kill you in your sleep," I respond to them too.

Some people are sass monsters on twitter. Like honey, you need to chill.

On social media people tend to show off, and post their most attractive picture, and moments that are most likely to give everyone else FOMO (Fear of Missing out). They rarely share the moments when they feel down, or when things have gone wrong and they need support.

There's always going to be a tradeoff between trolling and anonymity, and I guess that's the way life will be. And you can manage it, but you can't cure it.

I read something once that when you're online, your inhibitions are lowered to the state where you've had three drinks. Once you basically know that the entire internet is slightly drunk, it all makes a lot more sense, and you deport yourself accordingly.

It's nice to be able to directly speak to fans and thank them for their support. The only time that it can get tricky is when they are unkind or say things that may not be so easy to say if they weren't behind a computer. Bullying is never ok. I personally have only experienced it very infrequently so overall I enjoy Twitter and Instagram but I'm definitely aware of it.

I like how blogging emulates fandom because it's so completist and spontaneous. It really mirrors the way people listen to music, and I like that fluidity with online content.

Social media is like ancient Egypt: writing things on walls and worshiping cats.

What Facebook stands for in the world is giving people a voice and spreading ideas and rationalism.

As much good as it does, social media can also encourage stupidity and degradation.