> Face to face, people are usually pretty civil and they don't easily call name on one another

It used to be the case that this was true even with written and remote (telephone) communication. Now with the way people behave on facebook and twitter (and yes, hacker news), snark, insults and exaggerated outrage are the "new normal" for non-business written communication.

The younger generations haven't known anything different, so part of me wonders if we'll see a shift in face-to-face communication that more closely mirrors how we see people (poorly) behave on social networks, or whether the threat of real physical violence of an in-person confrontation will keep that in check.

I don't know if it's true that face-to-face communication is actually better when you begin to talk about controversial, political subjects. There's a reason why it's been common courtesy not to talk about politics or religion at any large family gathering.

The key word here is “large” I think. It's deeply irrational, but in front of people, discussion usually become a contest to assert one's status among the group, and it's just too hard to “surrender”.

But importantly, face-to-face doesn't do anything to mollify that, which is against what the GP says.

Oh fortunately it does, people don't usually insult each other in real life at family events. Yes people are speaking louder and louder, and ends up using a ton of sophism and Ad hominem but that's it. On Twitter this is what a civil conversation looks like…