Why Is Everyone on the Internet So Angry?

[Jim Lane]

17. Yes, the causation works both ways.

People who are on the internet are angry, for reasons noted in the OP.

But people who are angry are on the internet. Since before there even was an internet, it was noted that people were more inclined to speak up about what displeased them than about what pleased them. ("The purpose of language is to complain," or words to that effect, from Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.) The internet doesn't fundamentally change this. People are more likely to post when they're moved to do so to express their negative, angry thoughts. On days when they're happy, they just read stuff, and leave the commenting to the people who happen to be ticked off at that time.