Social Media Applications can
function in two ways, ensuring anonymity or forcing an association to your real
identity. Both of these functions are necessary for the establishment of an
open dialogue. Facebook is the prime example of forcing users to operate from a
actual identity. This is in part out of a belief that individuals will be more
civil if they are held accountable by people they know. People used to attempt
to have different personalities or identities depending on who they were
around, Facebook essentially tried to end this. However what has actually happened
is a proliferation of individuals are increasingly competitive in their desire
to do more than their friends. This belief about individuals behaving civilly
if they are coupled with their name has not been proven empirically. Any user
of Facebook can testify that individuals, or trolls, are constantly seeking to
start an argument.
Some social media apps have been
bucking the current norm of not betting against Facebook, and have allowed
users to interact anonymity. Apps such as Yik-Yak, Whisper and Secret all allow
users to not couple their comments with a name and identity. This has had mixed
results. Some individuals have a tendency to seek conflict and to destroy the
emotional stability of others. However this is not always the case. There are stories
of people rallying behind those who voice thinking of suicide, of showing up to
be blood tested for someone’s mother with leukemia, and simply giving shout
outs to others almost always positive.
Anonymous social media apps are increasingly used as individuals seek to voice
sincere concerns and questions. Although responses are not always positive, it
is suprising how often they are. These
examples speak to something more important than which social media app is used,
they speak to the character of the individuals that are on them.
The Ring of Gyges is a object from
Plato’s Republic which grants the wearer invisibility. Socrates then asks the
question of whether an individual’s behavior would change. He was optimistic
that because we feel good when we do good, eventually people would start to
behave in way beneficial to society. The truth of this belief is something with
mixed anecdotal evidence. Anonymous social media does have individuals that
seek conflict, but that is not always the case. And maybe the cause isn’t the
anonymous social media apps but rather is our character. Blaming social media
apps for people’s actions is inappropriate.
Interesting how many different types and categories of apps there are.
ReplyDeleteNicely done on showing the different apps and explaining the importance of apps now a days.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it hard to know whether being anonymous is more helpful or harmful
ReplyDelete