LONDON — Rudeness and throwing insults are cutting online friendships short with a survey on Wednesday showing people are getting ruder on social media and two in five users have ended contact after a virtual altercation.

As social media usage surges, the survey found so has incivility with 78 percent of 2,698 people reporting an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person.

One in five people have reduced their face-to-face contact with someone they know in real life after an online run-in.

Joseph Grenny, co-chairman of corporate training firm VitalSmarts that conducted the survey, said online rows now often spill into real life with 19 percent of people blocking, unsubscribing or ‘unfriending’ someone over a virtual argument.

‘The world has changed and a significant proportion of relationships happen online but manners haven’t caught up with technology,’ Grenny told Reuters on the release of the online survey conducted over three weeks in February.

‘What really is surprising is that so many people disapprove of this behaviour but people are still doing it. Why would you name call online but never to that person’s face?’

Figures from the Pew Research Center show that 67 percent of online adults […]