Friday, December 4, 2015
Anonymity Used For Protection
Many people rely on anonymity to protect their identities and help them feel comfortable in whatever they want to post on social media. With this said, I believe that anonymity is a significant thing online that should not be taken away from an individual. Although the purpose of anonymity is to protect one's identity, there will always be a few that use this anonymous system inappropriately. Many people have experienced trolling or cyber bullying which is a huge flaw in the online anonymous system, but that isn't what it was intended to be used for. In those particular circumstances, anonymity is being used as a tool to benefit their personal gain. Anonymity allows individuals to participate in public forums and in some private functions without fear of judgement or being targeted for detrimental purposes. Anonymity is crucial in forums that allow individuals to use internet chat rooms to process personal histories such as in AA (alcoholics anonymous) or NA (narcotics anonymous) online meetings or in online support groups designed to help survivors of any situation, for example victims of crime, incest, domestic violence, etc. Without the shield of anonymity in these situations, victims can be targeted or subjected to more abuse and painful situations.
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I completely agree with you Iris. Anonymity was not made for hate and abuse but somehow it has turned into that especially for us teens who use the internet constantly. Those who use anonymity not only to troll, but to cyber bully has caused people to rethink the idea of being anonymous. Some have even considered banning anonymity, but that wouldn't be fair to people who actually use it for serious issues like personal histories as you mentioned. Maybe we can send our personal information to the creators of social media before they let us make an account that way if any cyber bullying or cyberharassment occurs, websites will have knowledge of exactly who is behind that account. We should be allowed to be opinionated on the internet whether it is anonymous or not. Obviously some people aren't comfortable exposing their identities with their views, so if anonymity is taken away a large percentage of the population would be silenced.
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