Neil Rush CMT Blog- January 26, 2016- Technology Over Anonymity

January 26, 2016

Hello blog readers, it's Neil. With the Gravity Falls series finale still a few weeks away and none of the other things I like really strongly relevant in the media, I've decided to find an article on the internet that could potentially be related to Communications Media Technology and write about it instead. I found an article talking about the well-worn belief that internet anonymity is why people are more inclined to say unkind things, engage in dangerous anti-social behavior, and express a desire to break the law on the internet than in person. An article I recently read on eurekalert.org written by the University of Kent entitled "Social media technology rather than anonymity is the problem" says... well, exactly that.
The article states that a new book written by Dr. Vincent Miller entitled The Crisis of Presence in Contemporary Culture: Ethics, Privacy, and Speech in Mediated Social Life intends to argue this point. Dr. Miller uses this book to examine the desire for freedom of speech on the internet versus the desire for civil discourse. He claims that rather than internet anonymity allowing for the worst elements of human nature to come out on internet social media websites and message boards, it is the structure of these very websites that allows for it. Miller stresses that if these issues are to be stopped, then "social media architecture should be organized the same way as physical architecture". The book questions the authenticity of the moral panics that have derived from internet use and abuse and whether or not ethics, privacy, and free speech can truly coexist in the modern world. Miller also recommends trying to add more humanity to social media software, however that can be done, and possibly making internet identity less anonymous, despite that not exactly being the issue.
This article, despite being pretty short, was still a very interesting read. I don't think it's entirely correct, because some message boards already do try to add more humanity to their commenters (and it almost never works as intended), but at least it's well-intentioned. Maybe one day there can be a balance between order and chaos. However, we should also take into account that they may not be as much of opposites as once believed. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you again next week.