The web is a resource that has been able to provide us with so much from information for school assignments to entertainment like social networks. It is safe to say that for many the web is truly a place for freedom. We are able to speak up and say things that perhaps we would not say in real life. Although it has many positive effects, sometimes there are those questions of doubt that may rise. For instance, does the web give others more power? Do they act the way they do to receive attention? It may not be something that crosses our mind, but if we come to think about it the web has the ability to change who we are online.
It is impossible to deny the fact that there are many people obsessed with the web, but sometimes we may go a little too far to gain attention. When someone’s life is at risk and your priority is to have all eyes on you in the web is something that is very unfortunate, this is when you know there is a problem with people and their relationships with others. In “I Tweet, Therefore I Am” by Andrew Lam, he shares with us in his article, “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, just as Lam mentions “It would seem that our 21st century response to an emergency is not to interact, but to record it.” We see that in many social network sites people always feel as if their lives are so important that they decide to play news reporters with their lives and let us know about everything that goes on.
These people may think that all eyes are on them when they are being so detailed and descriptive about their lives. They want people to read what they are writing and they make it clear that they want everyone to have their eyes on them and let them know, because if they did not then they would not be posting so many things that are irrelevant. I understand Facebook asks “What’s on your mind?” But it is something that should not be taken too literal. It is safe to say that many people take it literal because they think it is okay to write about their lives and share it with everyone because they do not mind others knowing about their business, they are extremely open people. It is okay to post something that you may find interesting such as “Wow I did not know that a person who sits and watches TV for three hours a day is 64% more likely to die from heart disease” as compared to “Omg everything in my life is going wrong I hate it. First I wake up late, then my car gets flat tire, I spill my orange drink on my white shirt, I trip on my way to class and dirty my pants and when I get there its canceled! Ugh! Can this day get any worse? I hate my life!” That is something that would be considered a little too much. It is as if they were tethered to express themselves like this, they probably feel as it is necessary to express themselves in a way where everyone can know how they feel. Ever heard of something called TMI? Well it stands for too much information, and it is something these audience seeking web users may be confused about.
We also have to keep in mind that many times the web is the only place a person can feel a sense of great power because they are able to write whatever it is that they want. People often they decide to post things or comment on others pictures/posts because they feel that they have the power to do so therefore they can say whatever it is that may come to mind. But as Bernstein claims in his essay, can we truly be anonymous in the digital world? To a certain extent yes, but in the end the technology is too advanced that eventually someone will know who that “anonymous” person truly is. 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.” (Bernstein 349) This is clear that those who decide to remain anonymous are the people that in fact are cowards. 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. The fact that it is so easy and okay to do something like this is also an unfortunate thing. Like Bernstein says, “But what the internet and its cult of anonymity do is provide a blanket sort of immunity for anybody who wants to say anything about anybody else, and it would be difficult in this sense to think of a more morally deformed exploitation of the concept of free speech.” (Bernstein 350) As we can infer, it is more likely that these are the people that do not speak up in a social environment 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 and therefore they will not be judged.
An important factor that many of us do not pay as much attention to 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 applications, targets;…” mentions Foucault in “Panopticism”. (Foucault 206) Discipline is important. They way your treat others is eventually the way you will be treated, therefore people should discipline themselves and people online should also discipline each other when it comes to their posts. “Genrelly speaking, it might be said that the disciplines are the techniques for assuring the ordering of human multiplicities.” (Foucault 207) In my point of view what I mean by discipline is that people should not harass others on the internet just because they have the freedom to do so. It is unfair for other innocent people for undisciplined online users to harass and disrespect them by using foul language, saying negative comments about them, harassing them in a sexual way, etc. Luckily, an undisciplined online user can go so far before they get into trouble with the authorities. This does not mean that it is okay to do all this into someone gets into serious trouble. Us, as online users know we have to respect others and if we see any one being harmed in a virtual form through the use of the internet we should probably try to speak up and say something, since we know its morally wrong to act in such a negative way, if not we can learn from the experience so that we never do something like that ourselves.
In the end, we always have to keep an open mind and remember to stay true to ourselves and not let the internet wash our head. We have to do what is right, which means not insulting others or anything of that sort. If we are unfortunate enough to experience or witness something of that sort, then we should speak up and do what we know is right. When it comes to school work we must also remember that there is a difference between posting something on Facebook or Twitter and an essay. School is not like the internet and we cannot change who we are, meaning the way we write. When anything is related to school we have to remain professional. We cannot let the internet change us negatively because it should be seen a positive resource that we should take for granted.
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. Print
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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