If this describes you, if you frequently find yourself becoming irritable and angry when you’re online and then act inappropriately by lashing out, your mindset may be contributing to your bad mood.
In his book Anger Management: 6 Critical Steps to a Calmer Life, Peter Favaro, Ph.D. writes that people who are annoyed, dissatisfied and angry as their foundational way of existing have an outlook that says, in effect: I don’t like the way the world is set up, and it is really pissing me off.
It may sound ridiculous to believe that a person could be pissed off because the world doesn’t operate the way any one individual thinks it should operate, but this belief and many like it form the foundation for most angry lifestyles. The perpetually under appreciated and misunderstood person does not get enough ‘thanks’ from his world as he thinks he should, and that pisses him off. The perpetually threatened person does not understand what is wrong with the people in the world, who seem to go out of their way to give him a hard time, while everyone else is left alone. That pisses him off because he should be left alone and not bothered by anything.
… one of the most difficult [anger-maintaining perceptions] to conquer says ‘Anyone who does something I disapprove of bothers me and pisses me off, because they wouldn’t be behaving that way if they weren’t trying to piss me off.’ Because chronically angry people who live their lives around angry themes disapprove of just about everything, the world itself becomes a very irritating place.
If this sounds like you or someone you know, it is probably a good idea to learn basic anger management skills via excellent books such as the one listed above, or even enroll in an anger management course or receive counseling from an expert in anger management treatment. Keep in mind that anger doesn’t have to be exclusively outwards facing but can be directed internally, against oneself, as well.