I am not a believer in things being better back in the day. I think that is nostalgia. Flame wars have existed since the beginning of the internet.
What we can to do make it better is to invest in teaching critical thinking, media literacy, and actual argumentation.
And it is important to know when to walk away. There are a lot of times when I see someone respond to a comment in a way that is shitty or just plain wrong and I would love to try to correct them. However, I try to resist. If it is reddit or something I will look at their post history. If they mostly post on certain subreddits I know that there is no point in my continuing the conversation. Nothing I can write is going to change this person's mind so I stop engaging with that person. I'm not always successful in resisting the urge to tell them how wrong they are but I try.
What we can to do make it better is to invest in teaching critical thinking, media literacy, and actual argumentation.
And it is important to know when to walk away. There are a lot of times when I see someone respond to a comment in a way that is shitty or just plain wrong and I would love to try to correct them. However, I try to resist. If it is reddit or something I will look at their post history. If they mostly post on certain subreddits I know that there is no point in my continuing the conversation. Nothing I can write is going to change this person's mind so I stop engaging with that person. I'm not always successful in resisting the urge to tell them how wrong they are but I try.