The Web and Us
The web is truly a place of freedom for many of us. It allows us to speak up and say things that perhaps we would not say in the real life. Although it has many positive effects, there is much negativity to it as well. Are putting the web ahead of everything else? Are we being too open? Are we truly remaining anonymous in certain circumstances? And most importantly, are we safe? We may not see these negative things at a day to day basis, but if we come to think about it may be possible that the web is doing us more wrong than right.
The fact that many people are obsessed with the web is undeniable, but when someone’s life is at danger and their first instinct is to share the situation with the web, then that is when you know there is a problem with their relationships with others. Lam shared with us, “At USC a few weeks ago, professor Bill Nye, popularly known as “the science guy” on TV, collapsed on stage out of exhaustion as he prepared to give a lecture. Instead of helping him, many students in the audience took out their cell phones, snapped photos, texted and tweeted.” Instead of calling for help their first instinct was to share this with everyone. It is as if they were some type of news reporters who felt it was necessary to let everyone know about what was going on. In many social networks, people always feel as if there lives are so important that they decided to play news reporter with their lives and they let us know about everything that goes on. Some people need to know where to draw the line between being public and keeping certain things private.
We see that Bernstein mentions, “But anonymity is also a tremendous aid to the resentful, the scandalous and the cowardly, and the signs are that the tidal wave of anonymous comment made possible by the internet is getting even bigger.” This is a clear statement that those who decide to remain anonymous are the people that in fact are cowards. They are fearful of speaking their mind and being completely honest. For example, when a person sees a picture of someone and decides to comment something negative anonymously it is because they are afraid to actually tell the person what they think face to face. It is more likely that these are the people who do not speak up in social environments such as a classroom or a gathering with friends because they are not confident in their thoughts. This clearly shows how their interactions with others are affected because the only way they feel confident about speaking up is when they are online and remain anonymous because they know that no one will find out they are the authors of the post therefore they will not be judged.
An important factor that many of us do not pay as much attention as we should is safety. “’Discipline’ may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, comprising a whole set of instruments, techniques, procedures, levels of application, targets;…” mentions Foucault. Discipline is always important. The way you treat others is eventually the way you will be treated. There are many incidents of cyber bullying which is completely wrong and unacceptable. There are also times where we may encounter other types of disrespect on the web. In my opinion, these people should be carefully monitored and should not be allowed back because all they are doing is creating a negative atmosphere for everyone else as well as victimizing innocent people.
In the end, although the web may have a vast form of entertainment we have to realize how it is affecting us. For instance, when it comes to writing. On the web we are able to say what we need to say in a few words without having to expand and say many details. This is not good because this habit may follow us when we try to write an essay and we are not able to expand and add more detail to what we need to say. We have to keep in mind that the web is a privilege and it should not be taken advantage of.
Work Cited
Bernstein, Richard. “The Growing Cowardice of Online Anonymity.” The Norton Sampler 7th Edition: Short Essays for Composition. Thomas Cooley. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2010. 349-353. Print.
Foucault, Michel. “Panopticism”. The Foucault Reader. Ed. Paul Rainbow. New York: Vintage Books, 2010. 206-213. Ptint.
Lam, Andrew. “I Tweet, Therefore I Am”. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Eds. Diana George and John Trimbur. Boston: Pearson, 2012
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