Anonymity in the Digital Age.
At the core of our human souls, hearts, and minds lies in the ancestral instinct that drives us to move forward towards survival. Fear. This beautifully dangerous emotion has always been the "gasoline" to fuel our "engines" in order to move in the direction that is required of our lives during specific moments in our lives. Although many times it is for survival, fear also arises within us for the unknown.
The abysmal vastness that is Space.
The mysterious unknown of our Oceans.
The questionable looking Tupper-ware in the back of fridge that you don't remember putting there.
These are all valid reasons for fear to manifest itself within us, but what about the unknown origins of communicators that hid behind anonymity in the World Wide Web? Should we fear who we do not know? Or, should we instead focus our fear on the message that is being given? Take my hand, lets follow the White Rabbit.
This has been a topic that I have been wanting to dive into for a while now. Although we have had mediums of communication for over several hundred years now, presented in the form of either pamphlets, articles, books, journals, letters, radio, telephones, television which has all evolved in one way or another, the internet has become the alpha of the pack. Anonymity was not necessarily a concept that was thought about although it was still present. It was until the conception of the World Wide Web that the use of it has now exploded much like the baby boomers in the mid twentieth century.
I cannot take credit for the ideas that others have presented to the world, but I can take credit in the way I have presented this to you.
Objective v. Subjective.
How do you view the world? (With your eyes, I know). Let's take a moment to really think about this. Why is it that when ideas, messages, opinions, or facts are being presented to us by someone that we can A) see (what they physically look like, race, ethnicity, height, weight, etc.), or B) hear (their actual voice, tone they are using, how they pronounce their words, etc.), we as humans are defaulted into receiving whatever form of communication with our subjective lens'? Because we allow ourselves, our biases, to misconstrue the message that is being delivered. Vice versa, if we cannot see or hear them, then what our attention is being focused on is now on the message that is trying to be delivered. People are afraid of being shamed, judged, criticized, scrutinized, threatened, or even killed for sharing how they truly think for fear of what? Of how their message will be received by their audience. It is no wonder that groups like Anonymous exist, groups where they can deliver their messages clearly without any bias warping the message.
There is a major consensus on the negative connotation that Anonymity holds within society. This was only further exacerbated with anonymity in the digital age. According to the three different sources, anonymity in the internet is a topic that has been very controversial. Both the scholarly and primary demonstrate the difference in behavior when you compare and contrast anonymity in the digital age, and "real" communication. It was refreshing to see how in the anonymous world, we are diamonds, with our core being the same, but exposing different layers to our self depending on the context of the situation. Something that isn't demonstrated without anonymous behavior, otherwise we're more like mirrors, reflecting our own environment. The power of anonymity in the digital age was explained in the third source. It was refreshing to see the difference of opinion between the three different sources, but the ones that I picked piggy backed onto one with the other.
I leave you with this message taken from the last paragraph of the scholarly article I used as my primary source of inspiration.
"Although it is true that anonymity is often used with malicious intent, its
value in communication should not be overlooked, as online anonymity strips
communicators of prejudices such as gender, race and nationality, which allow for
a completely new communication where ideas and arguments rely on themselves in
order to have value, instead of the reputation of the speaker, and sincerity is
relieved of the shackles normally imposed by face-to-face communication." (Corina Iane, 2011)
Source 1: Anonymity on the internet and its psychological implications in communication by Corina Iane 2011 (scholarly article).
Source 2: Who is that? The Study of Anonymity and Behavior by Joe Dawson 2018 (psychologicalscience.org).
Source 3: What is Anonymous? How the infamous "hacktivist" group went from 4chan trolling to launching cyberattacks on Russia by Tom Huddleston Jr. Mar 25, 2022 (cnbc.com)
