Twitter and Facebook ruined everything. Time to go back to Prodigy and AOL chats.

Just want to say fuck Twitter and Facebook.  One douchebag stole the idea from the twins and the other is just a douchebag with a douche platform.  I refuse to use any of the shitty major sites.

I think it's great that people can get more sensitive and have an easier way to express their thoughts.
My great-grandmother used to say she was lucky to be married to a man who didn't beat her and didn't drink. It's not something she could say out loud in public back in the 30's, anbd let's be honest, it did get better but there is still a long way to go.
Empathy is to me, one of the best features of humanity. And while we are over-exposed to other sensitivities, maybe it's what we need to stop being assholes, altough I don't think we're using our modern capabilities correctly (#meToo did a lot, but also made people way too defensive).
As for political correctness, everyone should fight to say what they need to say, regardless of political correctness. Yet, language is an incredibly powerful medium, and should be used with precaution. Being able to state your opinion in a matter of seconds on social medias is not helpful in that way. Yet it's not social media's fault as much as the shitposters, and education needs to step up to the challenge.

I agree with the general premise that "shit's changed". As for whether it's a change for the better.... I think it basically is, though we may have gone too far. Ruining someone's career for something they did in the past, without intent to hurt (very important), at time when that behavior was normal, is not good. I think that has more to do with the current culture of outrage (as it is sometimes called), than the move towards.being .ore politically correct.

As to whether any of those issues you mentioned are related to this cultural shift, I have no reason to believe that they are. So, I'm going with no.

I think it's one of those things that comes in peaks and troughs over the years. Yes, nowadays the slightest hint of any bigotry from a person can be leapt on and used to ruin them... but I don't think that's a whole lot different to how in the 1950s (and arguably even as late as the 1980s) saying that you thought the Communists might have a good idea or two was a good way of instantly losing your job and destroying your social status.

As many have said, social media is to blame. You can have just a thousand, or maybe even just a couple hundred, which doesn't make up even 1% of the population, harass a company/person to do something or fire someone and the company/person feels like the country is against them, so does it. Everything is just amplified. Where before you may get a few dozen letters because not everyone wants to take the time to write a letter, put it in a stamped envelope, and mail it, now anyone can reach them directly on their phone.

I do feel like in the early days of the internet, more people understood how it worked, what anonymity allows for and what to expect. That's probably just because less people were using it though. At the same time the ability to block people definitely hasn't helped people be less ignorant. You don't need to learn how to handle a disagreement respectfully or see other viewpoints when you can just ignore them instead.