Anonymity and the internet - the big virtual cloud

Image taken from http://www.ethicalmedia.com

Anonymity of the internet definitely changes our social dynamics in virtual worlds and virtual communities. Because anyone can be who they want to be on the internet, we often do not know who we are communicating with or if this communication is real or just a facade. We often don't know a persons true feelings, ideas, etc. because they maybe just telling people what they think they want to hear. Now obviously this does happen in the physical world as well, but online it is harder to tell the difference. This is seen on pinksofa.com the lesbian dating site by the way that straight men sometimes posed as women. They have different motives for making a connection and this may affect others on the site and make them less willing to share information.

Anonymity is also see through a different lens with blogs like PostSecret. "PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." (Postsecret.com 2011) The internet allows people to express their true views, feelings, etc. publicly and anonymously. This allows people to have no fear of ridicule, punishment for what they write and it also allows them to catharsis in which they can lessen the burden on themselves that their thoughts and feelings cause. This is seen through the extreme popularity of PostSecret and by the way that it went 'viral' in the physical world. Anonymity on the internet may be the ultimate freedom of speech. Although not knowing who wrote the messages adds mystery to the meaning, giving it ambiguity (it could be anyone who wrote it, or the feelings of many);it might also limit its impact as there
is no credibility or enforcement of the message.

Gender socialization, representation and identification do have an impact on how people interact online. The socially accepted and internalized behaviors of each gender seems to transcend the physical world and go into our virtual world, even though we can be who we want to be online. This is shown by the way that it is thought that women are more likely to share their ideas on PostSecret than men, this could be due to the fact that in American society women lack power that men have and thus have less outlets to share their ideas without fear of ridicule, etc. Also the sexualization of women is seen through video games and online virtual communities, but it is also seen in online dating websites. Men often say that “looks do not matter,” but then comment on how they want someone “slim, young”, etc. This perpetrates the dominant ideology of what makes women attractive. Women on dating sites however often comment on how they want friendship or someone to go to coffee with, etc. Although these statements may be true for the women, for some they might just be saying this because they feel like it is the socially appropriate thing to say.