Quotation:
“On a societal level, anonymity opens the possibility of liberation from the divisions that come about from seeing one another’s race, age, gender, disabilities, and so on.”
Comment:
Being anonymous on social media, in my opinion, has many benefits and detriments. Anonymity on social media makes it possible for your voice to be heard without your looks affecting the things you are saying. We are all humans, and we all subconsciously judge people based on their appearance without even realizing. People are unable to discriminate against others if everything is done anonymously. On the app called YikYak, people anonymously post “tweets” within a 5-mile radius, and whatever they post can be upvoted or downvoted (also anonymously) by others. When I go through YikYak, I am able to upvote a comment that I agree with or downvote on one I disagree with, without ever being able to judge the person who wrote the comment. There is a huge downside to anonymity on social media, though. Many people use anonymity online to hurt and bully others. People are more prone to make a hurtful comment anonymously than they are to make a comment with their profile and pictures showing. There exists a perception of anonymity that comes with reduced feelings of accountability, which results in reduced public self-awareness. A bully might increase abuse online when they know that there is no way they could be traced or held responsible for their actions. This happens all the time on social media, accounts with blank profile pictures and no posts bullying others in YouTube comment sections, tweets, Instagram posts, etc. Social media enables people to take on different identities or help them create one. This can be beneficial to some trying to have a voice on social media without getting discriminated against, but also can be detrimental to those getting hurt by comments from people who feel powerful because their words cannot be traced back to them.
Question:
Does anonymity on social media make things better or worse for users?
