I'm So Much Cooler Online

As I was reading John Coate’s article “Cyberspace Innkeeping” for our weekend class discussion, I kept thinking about online anonymity.  For good or bad, being online is like a secret alias that gives us the power to become anything we want, even if it’s only in our imaginations.  Brad Paisley’s song, “Online” sums it up perfectly, “I’m a Sci-Fi fanatic, mild asthmatic, never been to 2nd base.  But there's a whole nother me that you need to see.  Go check out MySpace.”  The really neat implications of this are that it potentially offers us a freedom from being judged based on our appearance, how much money we make, ect.  It offers the painfully shy and socially awkward a less risky way of connecting with others.  It’s easier to be brave and stick your neck out, because you have invested less of yourself if faced with rejection.    It also offers a margin of safety not found in face to face encounters.  If some creep starts harassing you, you can sign off, thereby quickly ending the conversation. 

But this bravery connected with the feeling of being anonymous and invincible also provides a harbor for bad intentions.  An article published in 2010 in the New York Times discusses online harrassment, also called trolling.  Author Julie Zhou states, “Psychological research has proven again and again that anonymity increases unethical behavior. Road rage bubbles up in the relative anonymity of one’s car. And in the online world, which can offer total anonymity, the effect is even more pronounced. People — even ordinary, good people — often change their behavior in radical ways”.  Sadly, as we have witnessed many times over the past few years, cyber-bullying can still have tragic results.  John Coate’s article suggests that eliminating some of our ability to remain entirely anonymous will remedy this, but I’m skeptical since bullying is most definitely not only limited to online encounters, and indeed can be found in pretty much every social circle in some way shape or form.