Some common synonyms of correct are accurate, exact, nice, precise, and right. While all these words mean “conforming to fact, standard, or truth,” correct usually implies freedom from fault or error. However, many people don’t consider the fact that they should have evidence backing up their claims before they decide to correct someone online.

It’s tragic, but it’s quite funny at the same time, and we can thank the Facebook group “People Incorrectly Correcting Other People,” as well as the subreddit r/IncorrectlyCorrecting for finding and posting the crème de la crème of people being so incorrect it hurts. Whether it be plain grammar, fallacies of logic, or just pure ignorance, it’s a joy to witness these people get called out. 

Let’s start with a question: Why do people feel they need to correct others? Well, according to the research done by Ben Campen, people do this because they are insecure in the situation that they are in. If they are out with friends or family and are feeling insecure, they will make off-handed comments and correct their spouses as a way to assert themselves in order to feel better.  

Feelings of shame and humiliation often follow this, as most of the time, the correcting behavior that is meant to boost one’s own ego comes at the expense of another’s self-esteem—unless the person doing so is completely wrong in the matter, in which case, the boomerang of karma comes right back. 

Of course, one can say that these discourses should be conducted privately and with respect to one another, but that is a rarity to occur online, as the only thing that is private is your identity, hiding behind a snarky username. Respect? For another human being? Never heard of it. 

But if we are to be serious about this for one second, no one wins from insulting another, especially when it comes to corrective behavior. Remember how your parents used to yell at you for the smallest of little mistakes you made as a child, correcting your faults even though they were appropriate for your age? Interesting connection. 

A 2014 study in the Journal of Child Development demonstrated that yelling produces results similar to physical punishment in children: increased levels of anxiety, stress, and depression, along with an increase in behavioral problems. Furthermore, the same types of behaviors that children grow up with tend to get repeated with another human being the victim. 

Therefore, it can be argued that some people get their kicks and feel powerful by cutting others down, this ‘correction’ becoming a form of bullying. A Ditch the Label study found that those who bully are far more likely than average to have experienced a stressful or traumatic situation in the past 5 years. Examples include their parents/guardians splitting up, the death of a relative, or the gaining of a little brother or sister. 

Whether it’s stress, low self-esteem, or a difficult home situation, we all have different ways of dealing with those feelings, and some channel them into anger and the need to control. 

Dr. Art Markman argues that people’s certainty about their beliefs can be broken down into two components: clarity and correctness. Clarity refers to whether people are sure about what they believe. Correctness focuses on whether we think our belief is ‘correct’ in some broader cultural or moral context. 

The more strongly people believe their attitude is correct, the more competitive they will be in their discussions. However, Dr. Markman suggests that if you find yourself in conflict with others on a regular basis, you might want to evaluate whether you generally assume that your attitudes are the correct ones. 

Discovering and being more open to other people’s perspectives may reduce one’s tendency to treat discussions as invitations for coercion. James Feudo offers a few techniques to help one with this tendency to correct another. If it’s something small and there’s no harm done, pretend it never happened. 

If the person you’re interacting with keeps making the mistake, then you might want to point it out in private. If the mistake they’re making can cause a problem (such as poor advice or wrong directions), then you can step in right away. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

As you continue scrolling through this list, make sure you’re upvoting your favorites, leaving comments in your wake, and I shall wish you a wonderful day! Until the next one!