Why Are Online Neighbourhood Watch Groups So Paranoid? I Asked Psychologists

“When our eldest was five or six, he said he wanted to see [some local] baby swans... before everyone else got there,” Redditor u/franki-pinks shared with r/AskUK. But though the child, who went with his dad before sunrise, had a “great time,” the poster’s husband mentioned that a woman “kept driving past them”.Later, images of the boy and his father went small-town viral on a local neighbourhood watch page. Many were “speculating” about what was going on, even going so far as to assume that the gym bag containing the father and son’s breakfast was a body bag. The comments were filled with similar experiences. A woman’s husband, doing a tree survey for the parish council, was described as a “dodgy looking guy” peering into gardens; the owner of a three-legged cat was accused of animal abuse.A page called Angry People In Local Facebook Groups shares irate, unwarranted ramblings from suspicious posters, too.So, we spoke to experts about what they think is going on. Posting pictures of strangers online is unacceptable, but it keeps happeningSpeaking to HuffPost UK, media psychologist Dr Pam Rutledge said that in the original poster’s (OP’s) case, “it shows a total lack of respect for privacy to post an image (especially if it features a minor) online without permission”.Still, she said, it’s a “growing problem” – especially in local watch pages, which “often amplify paranoia, encouraging public speculation based on little evidence”.Posters may be rewarded for posting more intense stories with high engagement, the psychologist added, which “can override concerns for victims’ privacy, well-being, or the legitimacy of the claim”.And bonding over a shared fear – real or imagined – may provide “social validation and increased feelings of belonging”.Psychologist Rod Mitchell, from Emotions Therapy, agrees, saying “neighbourhood Facebook groups have become petri dishes for collective fear”.“In face-to-face interactions, we have a range of built-in reality checks – you see their face, hear their voice, pick up on a thousand tiny cues that say ‘okay, maybe this isn’t actually a crisis,’” he told us. “All of these reality checks ... are absent when you’re in an online space.”The paranoia is contagious and even rewarding Dr Rutledge noted “platform algorithms reward emotional content, so posts that spark fear or outrage get more attention” – not only that, but “moral panic spreads easily” on these sites.Mitchell said local group paranoia is a classic case of “emotional contagion”, which encourages us to “catch” feelings from our in-groups like a cold.“When one person posts about a ‘suspicious’ person with a sports bag, the collective anxiety amplifies with each new comment. Paranoia builds until we start to see innocent behaviour as something sinister and dangerous,” he shared.And when you read a panic-inducing post, “your mirror neurons light up, your heart rate kicks up a notch”, he added.“You also get a hit of dopamine from spotting something important, being the neighbourhood hero who saw the ‘threat’. Before you know it, everyone’s feeding off everyone else’s fear, and the paranoia spreads through the entire group.”In other words, it doesn’t look like the paranoid posting is going anywhere soon...Related...Should You Ever Cry In Front Of Your Kids? I Asked A TherapistCan A Hand Exercise Really Help Prevent Dementia? I Asked Experts'I Ghosted My Friend After She Asked To Split Her Birthday Bill. Was I Unfair?'

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