How To Build A False Identity

The internet and the people on it can be very crucial. Social media allows people to express themselves in ways they feel can’t in the actual world. They express their feelings, their open to their own opinions, and so forth. However, the internet also consists of people who give unnecessary, mean, and hateful opinions to other people for reasons that no one truly understands. The podcast “Act One. Ask Not For Whom The Bell Trolls; It Trolls for Thee” by Lindsey West, is about a female who was constantly getting backlashed over the internet by whom she referred to as “trolls.” The internet is usually where people go to voice their opinions over what they feel is right or wrong; with Lindsey West, she had voiced her opinion and what she felt was wrong about male comedians using the rape term too often and using carelessly. A result of West voicing her opinion

In Stephen Marche’s blog, The Epidemic of Facelessness the idea that “everyone in the digital space is, at one point or another, exposed to online monstrosity, one of the consequences of the uniquely contemporary condition of facelessness” (Marche, 2015) is portrayed. The purpose of this blog is to show how new forms of communication are creating a “dissonance between the world of faces and the world without faces” (Marche, 2015). The faceless forms of communication Marche writes about include nonverbal communication through social media, and online trolls. Marche says, “the faceless communication social media creates, the linked distances between people, both provokes and mitigates the inherent capacity for monstrocity” (March 2015) meaning

But, in the “Should We Feed the Trolls?”, LaFrance states “that we are our real selves online as much as we are our real selves anywhere else” (LaFrance 1). The connection individuals are making with the Internet is negatively impacting our society, allowing people’s barbarous thoughts to be viewed by the public eye. The world needs to learn that talking behind a screen should be no different than in-person, because “technology doesn’t magically make a person’s behavior inauthentic” (LaFrance 1). If people begin to understand this concept, it will reduce the prejudices women encounter every day, that are still deeply rooted in our society. In “The Quiet Violence of the Unwanted Kiss,” the misogyny appears in our culture when

Anonymous posting provides an opportunity for social media users to reveal “honest expression, unencumbered by identity” (Poole). The ability to remain anonymous directly affects users’ online behavior to inevitably portray an extension of their offline persona, yet it also enables the choice to make claims on an identity that differs from reality. When individuals hide behind the mask of electronic anonymity, they can take the role of a cyberbully with the intention to aggravate and distress victims, which demonstrates their moral disengagement toward the feelings of other individuals. Despite the fact that anonymity fosters a “unique sense of community . . . that embraces and encourages freedom of thought [, social media sites such as 4chan have] completely raw and unfiltered discourse” (Poole). The social media site, 4chan, is an online messaging board where anonymous users do not have to submit personal information to be involved in it (Russon). Because it does not replicate real-world social norms by emphasizing the human qualities of conversation such as people’s faces, real names, as well as brief biographies, there is not a baseline of responsibility and thus users are willing to post without inhibition to castigation. The

Because of public humiliation, Raza lived every day in shame and fear. Furthermore, Facebook is online social media which we can share our pictures, or news with our friends. On the other side, Facebook is considered as a device to attract people. For instance, someone made a fake new to blame a student at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Ore for being sexual offense. Due to the protection of privacy, they don’t use his real name; however, all over Facebook called him “rapist”. Further, we are all human races, if we don’t like to get hurt, why we hurt other with our words. In case we hadn’t posted the video of a South Korean student online who was named “Dog poop girl”, she wouldn’t have dropped out of college. Because of our joke,we can cause irrevocable harm to someone else’s life Likewise, Bennett also noticed, “ For people who use blogs and social-networking sites like diaries, putting their personal imformation out there for the world to see, this presents a serious risk.” (92). Most people agree with her argument because social media is virtual world, and we can’t identify good or bad people. In some case, identity thief steals our personal information and used for different

Perhaps one of the most instrumental factors in the increasingly problematic adult misogynistic cyber-bullying scenarios is that each individual participating in the harassment is able to do so anonymously. Anonymity allows the online participants of misogynistic cyber-harassment to feel a sense of security from retribution and strips the human traits of empathy and morality from the participants. Phillip Zimbardo, a social psychologist, studies and observes the undressing of empathy and morality seen in individuals participating in anonymous activities (qtd. in Citron 58). Zimbardo concludes, “The study found that the anonymous students delivered twice as much electric shock to subjects as the non-anonymous students” (qtd. in Citron 58).

The Internet provides arguably the biggest audience of any one medium because there are very few limits to its reach. Therefore then, the Internet has provided a uniquely rapid and almost irreversible way of becoming what some call “Internet famous”. Often, this attention is without the subject’s conscious consent and more than likely comes with consequences in the form of comments from millions of faceless online critics. The availability of becoming an online critic has created a kind of social ownership of deciding which stories Internet users like and dislike. Public awareness, however, of this availability goes far beyond hitting a “like” button. Go on any social media or online news outlet that allows comments and you will find an array of colorful, unabashed and personally attacking comments. The anonymity of online commenting has been evaluated to lead online users to be brasher and even hateful because there is no immediate consequence for their

Page 3 from Ed Brubaker (words) and Sean Phillips' Criminal: Volume 2, Bad Night (Marvel, 2009), speaks on creating an identity for one's self. How much of themselves an artist puts into their work is something that is often discussed. This page could be viewed as a prime example of this, or a commentary on it. The elements of this page lead the reader to an exploration of how much of the person creating a work is included in it, and how much of their own lives a reader can see in said work.

(McKenna and Bargh, 2000) compares anonymous online behaviour to communicating to a ‘dark room’ in which a person lacks the fear of being seen and thus being more open and self-revealing of their true thoughts and feelings. The altering and hiding of identity

But, technology has also allowed our nation’s Puritan roots to be prominently displayed online. Social media platforms are often the most popular choice when it comes to bringing light to the ignominy of others. With the option of hiding behind a screen, people often lose touch with human empathy and do not hesitate to lash out at others; this is shown in the Justine Sacco twitter incident of 2013. In the New York Times magazine, Jon Ronson educates his audience about how quickly people chose to harass

For example, a man who appeared on The Tonight’s Program who wished to remain anonymous expressed zero remorse after making comments about a child who was murdered. With a simple comment, this anonymous man caused the family a great deal destress and hurt. Next, insensitive comments encourage social media account holders to commit suicide. Jessica Laney, a 16 year old high school student was found hanging in her room in Houston after webs trolls messages her “Can you kill yourself already”. Laney who had experienced a troubled family life took to social media as an outlet for all of the pains she had endured. In her comment box contemplating her suicide, anonymous account holders were encouraging her to take her own life. This ultimately led to her death, causing her family to grieve and suffer over there loss. Web trolls are directly responsible for encouraging messages of suicide

This is known as online disinhibition. However, there are two types of online disinhibition which explain different behaviors online. Benign disinhibition is when a person discloses information about feelings and emotions, such as helpful advice based on personal experiences (Suler, 2006). Toxic disinhibition is when a person is rude, abusive, or become involved with sites which contain violent and deviant material, as in the case of David Michael Kalac (Suler, 2006). When online, it is easy to simply log off and disassociate oneself with their behaviors, as disinhibition makes one feel less vulnerable and less responsible for their actions (Suler, 2006). Because online activity is asynchronous, and one never need reveal all of their personal information to become a member of a website, a person can remain “invisible” to the

People around the globe use the World Wide Web to share not only articles, but also pictures, videos, and ideas. There are some users, however, that can be quite disruptive, even abusive, to online communities. “Internet trolls” are “abusive or obnoxious” users who often “use shock value to promote arguments in web conversations” (Gil). The “anonymity afforded by the Internet sets the stage for trolling,” and thus, many users develop an alter ego of sorts when able to hide behind a computer screen, behaving differently than they would in public (Academic Earth). Although many trolls err more on the side of irritating than offensive,

Incivility in the online world is partly caused by anonymity, but anonymity has its place in the internet and needs to stay. Incivility is often described as social behavior that is lacking in respect, or good manners. A lot of people have reasons to believe that anonymity is the sole reason behind incivility online, and while it plays a huge role, anonymity has an even bigger role in the conversations happening online in the first place. Maria Konnikova, a bachelor in psychology and creative writing, writes about anonymity encouraging people to participate in discussions because their words won’t be attached to them and that if comments on internet articles were taken away, the connections we often-times make with these articles or news stories are taken away as well. Richard Bird, a freelance writer who frequently speaks about the loss of civility today, argues in his article that the ability to communicate anonymously online threatens civility severely. Bird claims that anonymity encourages incivility, like Konnikova in her article. Finally, Rich Heldenfels, a retired pop culture writer for the Akron Beacon Journal, claims that American politics has always lacked civility and isn’t a new problem at all. Heldenfels claims that media makes incivility appear to be a bigger issue than it is. In my paper, I will explain the arguments of the authors of each paper, compare them to one another, and share my thoughts and possible solutions of the problem that is online

Social media. We have all heard of it. We have all raved about it at some point in our lives. There is no doubt; it plays an imperative part of people’s lives today – users are reliant on social media. It is great that Mark Zuckerberg reminds us to say, “Happy Birthday” to our friends. Yet, we have all seen the dangers it can cause. From identity fraud to cyberbullying - we become exposed to the dangers of the internet. Not only is it hackers and frauds that cause destruction, but social networking posts. Every day, you scroll through Facebook, or Instagram - liking, sharing and commenting on posts. What people don’t see is how words on a ‘status’ or ‘tweet’ can hurt someone. They can’t see that a person’s feelings behind the screens on a computer have been destroyed, because they can’t see what they don’t want to see.