Edit: My own solution: when it happens, get off the computer and pet the dog.
So let's say I make a point on a post. I put forward my argument and I support it with evidence.
Now let's say the first comment is from someone who disagrees with me, but seems to fundamentally misunderstand what I am saying, probably because they read the title of the post and immediately posted the first thing that came to mind.
But my fear, acquired from Reddit, is that people are going to read this guy's totally inaccurate presentation of my argument and then every comment in the rest of the discussion will proceed as if that's what I said.
And since, as we all know, fear leads to hate, my first instinct is just to berate this person for being a stupid moron.
This is a bad strategy. Not only is probably against Lemmy rules, it automatically makes me the bad guy.
So: question: how do I handle this person without tediously restating my position again, which is extremely irritating because I already wrote it once and they didn't read it the first time. What I want is to say something that quickly quarantines the misreading comment in people's minds so the misreading doesn't infect the entire thread.
99 Comments
BottleBoardBakon@lemmy.ml · 110 pts · 2d
Move on with your life who gives a fuck
shweddy@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 2d
Youre missing the point
QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 2d
obtuse means round not pointy silly
daychilde@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2d
well thats an interesting angle to take
Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 2d
It's acute philosophy
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
I'm trying to triangulate the next pun, but my attention deficit hypotenuse disorder is interfering.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 2d
BUT SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET!!!
:)
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 2d
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
I didn't even see you reply because I pre-blocked you
;-) (kidding of course)
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 1d
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d
Whether sarcastic or just meant straight up, I accept :D
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 1d
I genuinely appreciated the humor. :-)
cheat700000007@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2d
Not giving a fuck is an acquired skill for some
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 50 pts · 2d
Make one clarifying point comment and then move on.
An example of how to do it:
An example on how not to do it:
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 2d
I can see the scars, friend. Thank you for your service.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 18 pts · 2d
Lol, I should have prefaced with Reddit survivor.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 2d
Honestly, I have PTSD from that site. Things are better here, but sometimes my flashbacks get triggered.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 2d
It took awhile to get rid of that for me too. I can spot the trolls pretty easily here though, there are about 10 accounts maybe? I sometimes fall for the trap, but it's getting rarer and rarer. I have found their patterns, but sometimes it takes me a few comments to see that it's bad faith.
I think Lemmy/Piefed is so much less addicting, that it doesn't really matter as much. I guess because the anger is the part that's addicting and I never realized I was in it until I got away. It's really strange though, I just quit cold turkey. Which is great, but strange. I'm so glad I did.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2d
When you use "troll", are you implying intent? I think some people are just poor readers, and having decided they are right, now blindly argue for their position regardless of any information.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2d
I'm absolutely implying intent. There are trolls here, for sure. I probably see it more because I mod a larger community and I'm in politics a lot. If you avoid those communities, you probably have a different perspective. People misunderstand too, and if I get it wrong I apologize.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 30 pts · 2d
Step 1. Remember the points don't matter
Step 2. Remember it doesn't matter if these people agree with you.
Step 3: Why should we even care if they mistook what we were saying
Step 4. If they agree feel ever so warm inside and justified in thinking what you thought... (Ignore all previous steps)
supernicepojo@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2d
Lemmy is becoming self aware
TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 16 pts · 2d
Down vote and don’t engage
cRazi_man@europe.pub · 14 pts · 2d
My rule to live by: never engage with comments online. I'll post a comment, but >99% of the time there is no reason to reply. I've said what I wanted. There's hardly anything to gain from trying to change anyone else's mind or elaborating further. Someone has to make it abundantly clear that they are responding in good faith to warrant a response. My life has been much better since I started doing this and I would strongly recommend everyone try it out.
AlphaOmega@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2d
Block them, don't feed the trolls.
JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social · 2 pts · 2d
In PF one can also add a note to their acct.
This is useful when a person seems pretty reasonable overall, but has some hangup upon particular issues. Actually it's incredibly common IMO, starting with myself. 😅
tanisnikana@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d
Sometimes I give myself downvotes. Points don’t matter. Block people you find frustrating. Enjoy the people you like. Do whatever, just don’t break the rules.
I’m downvoting this.
meco03211@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2d
We clearly disagree on the point of your comment so I'm upvoting. Take that! You'll think twice before you vote the wrong way next time.
tanisnikana@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2d
I’m downvoting you too.
meco03211@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
You don't scare me! I'm upvoting your response here too.
Strider@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d
Autists deal with this daily, on lemmy and everywhere life.
Phase 1: explain
Phase 2: just let it go
And estimate in advance if you have the energy and motivation to get into it. Mostly I don't even get into it although I would really be happy for constructive exchange.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2d
What is the connection to autism? Why don't people understand you?
I often switch contexts in my head without informing my partner and assuming they'll know what I'm talking about.
Strider@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d
Your answer kinda proves the point to me, meaning no disrespect.
The issue is we all are using the same words but neurotypical people rely heavily on reading and messaging between the lines, which we don't do. This results in the so called double empathy problem where there's a lot of issues in the communication.
Since 99% are usually neurotypical and 1% are autists, the norm is basically NT and we're the ones who have to deal with this on a daily basis. And since the knowledge of autism is actually way outdated for many people who do not actively concern themselves with this (and even most professionals, sadly), often people think of the really disabled autists and not fully capable people that have a biologically different brain causing this.
This pushes the issue to a wholly different level on highly functioning autists, aka nothing seems different but the struggles are absolutely real and the misunderstandings are on completely different levels e.g. a valid harmless query from the Autist to assess a situation is interpreted as a vile attack on a NT.
Psychologically and socially it's actually a highly interesting topic.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 2d
Can you explain what i said and what point it proved? i have at least two options.
Strider@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 1d
You've lost me. And while I provided fundamentals with source I do not comprehend what this short statement is meaning nor trying to achieve but personal 'winning' on the internet.
As previously stated we have to manage our social resources tightly and this is where I exit.
mirshafie@europe.pub · 1 pts · 1d
You made a weird connection to autism that was unrelated to the post. You were asked to clarify the connection, and gave the example that "neurotypicals" rely on "unclear" communication. It's unclear how that's relevant. You did not provide evidence or clarification, and now you're being an asshole.
Strider@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
Thanks (honestly) for clearing that up.
See - that's the issue. There is this inherent obvious connection on the op topic that you can't see. And that's fine, you're NT. However I am not, hence you're saying I am an asshole for not elaborating a point you can not understand. It's literally beyond NT understanding.
As is many understanding of yours to ND. And when trying to go into this, I, or rather, we are the assholes. So of course we resign. There is this gap in understanding that I even linked and it's still not enough.
So, there you go. I am sure it will not or never be enough. It's just that on the opposite side you as a standin for NT are behaving like assholes, but both sides are literally incapable of getting some points across.
As said, still thanks for your answer. Be kind to people, you might not understand them. (unrelated to me)
Edit oh by the way: weird is the perfect notice of autism by NT. Just FYI
mirshafie@europe.pub · 1 pts · 1d
If there is an obvious connection, it should be simple enough to explain it. If the assumption is that misunderstandings happen due to variances in brain wiring, I think that's a sidenote rather than the generic explanation fot the phenomenon OP described. What OP tried to say is that misunderstandings happen due to biases - and we all have biases - and they wanted to shut down misunderstandings politely before it derails the thread.
The issue I'm taking is that you're claiming something and it's unclear what, saying that whatever it is must remain mysterious because of differences in brain wiring, because you're autistic. Meanwhile, OP is autistic and so am I. We're all fucking autistic. The irony is that this is derailing the thread.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
You said, "your answer kind of proves the point to me." I was asking what it was that I said and what point it proved.
I was worried maybe such a brief question would be interpreted as hostile, but you had assured me the atypical people, of which you claimed to be, don't think that way, that it is is merely an annoying trait of NTs.
I'm starting to think that maybe you are over-interpreting autism into this context. Not that double-bind communication doesn't exist (thank you for sharing that, btw), but on-line we do away with much of the bother of non-verbal communication (as well as the ability to easily skip over boring conversations and the ability to obliquely reference shit knowing SOMEONE is going to get it), so there is much more parity between NT and atypical people.
I say this as someone with over 1k/comments Lemmy a month after having been here two months, and after having done all my "socializing" on line all my life--but it usually amounts to just this, having a series of one-off conversations with strangers, and it's the best I can do, socially.
Strider@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
Hey, thanks for continuing. I have to say, you're possibly right with overthinking. That's what we do. And hence, we often jump around to the point of getting lost in our own line of thinking - the latter being exactly what happened.
I am now trying to read through the fragments and have a very hard time following myself. If we were sitting together it might be easier, doing this asynchronous is hard work. So thanks for putting up with that and your effort.
Let me do some jumping around mobile and desktop and see of I can follow up.
Follow up edit:
OK I found where we disconnected. So I answered your op question basically and included autism and thought of that as self contained answer as if it was clear.
So it's kind of meta and apologies for that, it is convoluted. Having deep(er) knowledge of something one tends to miss out explanation of these things, which adds to the issue.
So the connection to autism with misunderstandings lies in autism itself, this literally are the social difficulties which are documented in medical papers.
Now, what might throw you off is the expected 'that happens to everyone'...and while that is true it's one of the discussions we have regularly. It's just on a totally different level.
Its complicated. But it is there, and I didn't want to hijack your topic or cause bother.
And while this explanation might likely be 'eh' for you, don't worry, hopefully you'll never have to worry much about it in your life and that's perfectly fine.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
No worries. I discovered the autism lemmy and think I have broad phenotype autism, so I'm always interested in learning more.
I worked at a tech place and got along with everyone there. I thought it meant I was likable and it just different places are going to have different vibes, but someone pointed out tech people tend towards autism, so maybe all that was happening was that I find myself with a group of people who naturally shared my communication style... and that, basically still, I'm unlikable.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 1d
someguy3@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2d
Realize that what they say about whatever % of people being functionally illiterate is true.
If you really feel the need to, just say "that's not what I meant, please re-read it. I think it was clear enough that I'm not going to repeat it". But I doubt the fear that others will agree with him is too real.
otacon239@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2d
The rules are made up and the points don’t matter. At the end of the day, trying to argue with someone on the internet who does not have good faith in trying to hear your side of things is ultimately a pointless endeavour. Ignore them and move on.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 2d
There’s no helping some people. You might be talking about X, but they really hate Y. So they just ignore/disregard what you were trying to say, and just make it about Y.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2d
This is one reason I don't read DMs.
I stopped trying to have conversations on Reddit years ago, I don't think it would go any better here.
Shit post, have a laugh, don't take anything people say to you seriously, they don't know you, and you can't change their mind.
SolacefromSilence@fedia.io · 3 pts · 2d
What do you mean you can't change my mind!?
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d
And so began yet another opportunity for people to declare they're smarter or more neurodivergent (i.e. better) than everybody else.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1d
I don't understand how neurodivergence has become a competition.
People just seem to self-diagnose to excuse their crappiness and like the worse you convince yourself you are adhd/autistic the more crappy you can behave.
I also baffles me like, just because you like trains or whatever man, doesn't mean you are neurodiverse... maybe you are just a nerd who likes trains.
and people in the comment here immediately defending their 'autism' as an excuse for why everyone else is terrible and they are super genisues... oi. Using your typical strawman and hyberbolic argumentation... but they are so 'logical'.
captcha_incorrect@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1d
My dad is more neurodivergent than yours!! /s
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 1d
So you think you're always right, is that it?!?! You're saying everyone else is always wrong and you could never be wrong?!?!?!?! You think we're all a bunch of idiots who can't understand any of your big-brained ideas, because you're the only person smart enough to understand them?!??!?!?!?!??!?! So you think it's a waste of time to even try to explain your point?!??!?!??!?!!?!?!???!??!??!?!!?
Is that what you're trying to say?!1?1(1?11(1?1?1?1?1??1?1?????1?!!111??
::: spoiler spoiler /jk :::
snooggums@piefed.world · 5 pts · 2d
On piefed I give them tags with emojis to remind myself they aren't worth engaging with.
🤪💩 for dumbshits is pretty common.
paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 2d
Difficult as it is, I have to remind myself that the people who do this are not my target audience. They are swayed by the wind like blades of grass. Even if I convince them, they will be unconvinced by next week. The people who my words can affect are the people who bother to read what was actually said.
If I feel the need to reply, a very simple "that's not what I said but okay" and block them and move on. If they want to respond, anything they say will be longer than that sentence and the people who aren't invested will gloss over it and move on. And the people who are invested will go back and reread what I originally said. Or at least that's what I tell myself as I open up TikTok to look at videos of cats chattering and possums loudly cronching on grapes or whatever cute shit they're up to.
subignition@fedia.io · 5 pts · 2d
question your assumption that you need to respond in the first place. You have no obligation to spend your energy on the "troll or functionally illiterate person" coin flip. to put it another way...
if for the sake of example we ignore the possibility that your writing actually was unclear or ambiguous, then for the misreading to "infect the entire thread", the other readers would have to have similarly poor reading comprehension, right? that or they're putting little enough effort in not to catch the original response being way off base. if that's the case, is it really that important how you are perceived?
Archimedes@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 2d
Stick to memes and shitposting
the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d
Seems pointless to worry about. Just move on I guess?
EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app · 5 pts · 2d
Block them is a good strategy but also try to stick to communities that don't have that kind of hostile attitude. The culture of each community is different. I try to stay away from reddit-like behavior too.
fratermus@piefed.social · 5 pts · 2d
I'll spend time clarifying a point for person who
When it's not immediately obvious what kind of commenter is asking I glance at their posting history and annotate the account with a note/tag so I remember.
Gork@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 2d
I just say whooosh
JigglySackles@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2d
I try to give them one chance. Sometimes I get pulled in deeper if I've got nothing better to do. But on the whole, respond with curiosity first. Then determine of they are worth your time. If not, ignore them and move on, interacting with those more worth your while while eye rolling the idiots.
Guess the best way is to not care much about what others think of you. Then, eventually, down votes and bad arguments made by morons really just don't even bother you. Engage with better people, ignore the rest and chuck a down vote.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2d
I would argue that downvotes and bad arguments made by morons aren't so different from downvotes and arguments made by the "intellectually superior" among you. It's hard to corral human thought and all of it's often contradictory and competing, overt or covert motivations.
CallMeAl@piefed.world · 4 pts · 2d
If you ask me, unserious people like that deserve no response at all.
QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 2d
sunsofold@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 2d
I recommend only continuing the interactions where you and your interlocutor seem to have aligned intentions. If they are trying to understand, that's what you posted for. Help them. If they have partially understood, you have partially succeeded. Use the interaction to help them understand and find better ways of expressing yourself. But if they have named you their opponent, you won't be able to fix that through the internet. If it seems worth it, add an 'edit: Blah blah blah' note to your original post to help keep others from misunderstanding but don't try to become a teacher for someone who has decided you are the enemy. Communication won't work without good-faith effort on both sides.
FluidBeef@quokk.au · 4 pts · 2d
It’s online, people are going to deliberately misinterpret your posts.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 4 pts · 2d
If they wanna cram words never said or implied down others' throats or define things in a way only they could ever possibly understand, I simply block them. There's not going to be any effective communication when it comes to the illiterate and willfully ignorant.
Almacca@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 2d
If you must engage at all, and I recommend you don't, mockery works for me.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
mOcKeRy wOrKs fOr mE
(just teasing) :)
Almacca@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 2d
For a certain definition of 'works'. It's more about cultivating an attitude of detached amusement about things that don't matter.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
Oh, I agreed completely. I just couldn't resist being a silly bugger with a reply. "Call of the void" strikes me a LOT on silly replies like that :)
Almacca@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 2d
Not arguing. I approve being a silly bugger.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
<3
Zozano@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 1d
How to handle it: don't
Let other people in the comments downvote and correct them.
AceTKen@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
But they don't correct them often, especially if it's a longer post that has some nuance to it. People here don't like nuance. I'm not sure nearly people anywhere do anymore. That would involve a reading and understanding people you actively disagree with.
khanas1f@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
This is what I do
raspirate@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
At any point that I'm about to make a post online and I realize that the emotional energy required to continue engaging is more than I'm willing to commit to this particular discussion, I just bail. No reply, no downvote, just peace out. It's really not worth it.
despoticruin@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1d
Block and move on. It's not worth the effort. The points don't matter and the rules are all made up anyway.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 3 pts · 2d
I do repeat myself. I will do it for awhile and usually this goes into a. Well we have fundamental differences of opinions and we are not going to go anywhere with it. You see much of our conversations and arguments have some fundamental things that the arguer has as postulates. Often times someone can not accept an argument because at its core is a postulate that they do not agree with.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 2d
This has been a problem since the early days of usenet.
I suspect there is no good solution
SayJess@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2d
Everyone at one point is going to get triggered about something that they feel passionate about, and waste time writing paragraphs in replies. Once you recognize you are in that mode, move on. Find some silly cat videos, or fascists getting beat up.
This is the internet, where the positions are made up, and vote counts literally do not matter, at all.
swelter_spark@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 1d
I would try to clarify what I meant by re-wording it.
Pennywise@quokk.au · 2 pts · 2d
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 2d
Relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dK2UdVVdPI
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 2d
Respond with a couple of emojis. No actual text. Doesn't particularly matter what emojis you choose, just pick a couple at random. The more obscure the better.
If they aren't going to bother reading what you wrote, let them try to find meaning in 🥔🗑️.
dryfter@ani.social · 1 pts · 2d
Don’t 🥔🗑️ me! You 🧱🪬.
(🤣)
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 2d
Your 🌭 is a 🐐.
billwashere@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
Totally 🌂🧢
sanguinepar@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 2d
I love this. Definitely going to try it sometime 😁
h_ramus@piefed.social · 2 pts · 2d
7+ billion people on the planet. Some are dumb. Some are really dumb. Some are bored. Some are children with no life experience. The internet amplifies voices which, in real life, are ignored or disregarded as meritless. There's no non-verbal communication online hence lots will be misinterpreted.
This will happen lots of times by no fault of yours. You can't see "the other side" of the conversation so who knows who they are and their motives. I'll ignore muppets in real life. Harder to spot online but your example will give you clues. And muppets can band together. Move on, they'll continue to be muppets no matter how much effort and energy is spent debating people who act in bad faith.
Tiral@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 1d
So you fear and hate someone who didn't understand your opinion or point of view? I can't say that's ever honestly been a thing for me. Everyone doesn't need to understand or agree with you, and that doesn't make you wrong or right. If you're that angry at someone on an anonymous online forum maybe you should seek some sort of help, legitimately I'm not trying to be mean or condescending.
Hacksaw@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 1d
"Wow you expressed basic human vulnerability about one of your problems and asked for help? I can't empathise with someone as crazy as that! I think only a professional can help you, maybe even only God. You're really messed up. Legitimately I'm not trying to be mean or condescending"
slazer2au@lemmy.world · -13 pts · 2d
You don't. Accept you are wrong and move on.
You aren't going to be correct in every situation even with what you think is supporting evidence.
Edit: maybe don't insult them either.
vithigar@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 2d
Were you intentionally trying to provide an example of what OP was taking about?
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
Check OPs previous post about how video games are stopping young men from rioting.
Absolutely ignoring thousands of years of non rioting before video games were invented, ignoring the many many protest since the invention of video games, and disregarding women in the entire discussion.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 1d
Source? Pretty sure there's never once since the dawn of civilization been a thousand contiguous years in any culture that didn't see any rioting.
Hell, very few civilizations have ever lasted 1000 years without any major upheavals.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
The way op phrases the question is no video games = young men rioting which is wrong because if it were true we wouldn't have a civilisation left.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 1d
Eh, I'm not sticking up for OP here but I'm gonna pick apart your argument for logic's sake.
I think you're making an assumption that the way things have been is the same as the way things are or they way things will always be. I don't think that's the case though.
Change is the only constant in this world, and many things are constantly changing. Civilizations change, societies and cultures change, individual psychologies change, and trends on the collective level.
People in the 70s got by just fine without smartphones, but that doesn't mean people today would be just fine without them. Maybe we'd be fine eventually, but not without a period of strife.
People are addicted to phones, for one. Without that constant dopamine hit, millions would start tweaking like addicts without a fix. For another, as a society we've adjusted to depend on phones for so much. Sociality, navigation, banking, transactions, etc.. So many things that are so essential to life, and the skill sets associated with each one's analog counterpart have atrophied greatly. People these days are expected to be reachable anytime, anywhere. If suddenly we could only reach each other by landline or snailmail, we'd have problems to face as a society. If people can't access wikipedia or search engines and whatever else at a moment's notice, it would be a huge adjustment.
Maybe in the long term we'd be healthier as a society and as individuals if all our smartphones suddenly just disappeared one day, but it would take a huge adjustment before we returned to a sense of normalcy. And there's no telling what might happen in that time.
That's all just an example of how something that was once completely normally and even the baseline -- i.e., no smartphones -- could become unthinkable and catastrophic over time as technology develops and becomes the new norm.
So in that light, I don't think we can simply say "The Byzantines didn't have videogames, and their civilization lasted a thousand years." They had other pastimes, distractions, diversions, etc.. But people forget, skills and knowledge atrophy. We couldn't simply immediately return to relying on Byzantine-era hobbies and games. That might take decades to reestablish.
Now obviously I don't know the context of the conversation. On the surface, it seems wrong that he would limit the argument to just young men. These days people from all generations play video games. And people of all genders play video games.
I could be charitable and assume OP only said young men because they're presumably the majority of gamers and the usual targeted demographic of the gaming industry. But I'm not sure how true this is anymore, whether it's backed by research or just a stereotype. Even so, I think it's wrong to exclude other groups even if they're a minority of gamers. But I don't know that OP was deliberately excluding them, or if it was simply an oversight.
Then there's also the perception that young men are more aggressive than other groups, and therefore more likely to riot. Again though, this might be more stereotyping and not research-based. It kinda reinforces toxic standards and expectations of masculinity, while also dismissing the prevalence and salience of women et al in large-scale protest movements. So it's not fair to either gender, or for that matter, any other gender which gets marginalized or erased by this false dichotomy.
Lastly, I assume the topic of the larger conversation was video games, and that explains the focus on those. Like, of all things that could start a riot, it would seem strange to fixate on that. But again, I don't know the context. Maybe he was responding to someone who was already speculating on what would happen if video games disappear, or maybe someone aired a wish that they would disappear. I don't know. So I'm not gonna focus on the logic of discussing video games specifically, unless you mention a different reason why they were brought up in the first place.
There. I think that about covers it, at least from what I can glean in these few comments