Future World I - The Situation

I've been an active netizen for several years now and I consider myself lucky to have witnessed the dawn of this amazing new world, the Internet. What for a while was just a way for people in academic fields to communicate with each other has gradually become what it is now: a virtual place where anybody has immediate access to billions of people and more information than a human being can consume in his or her lifespan.

In theory, it's beautiful. I never felt so connected before (even when I was working with Donnie Brasco back in New York). As an intelligent and well educated man (this blog will never be accused of false pretenses of modesty), I'm naturally curious about everything and different subjects catch my attention each day. Then, having access to the Internet is a bless because with a few clicks of the mouse and some help from search engines like Yahoo or Google, I can find all the information I want in close to no time. I don't even remember how my life was before the Internet. And I don't wanna remember.

But, at the same time it connects people and provides access to all sorts of information, the Internet can also be disturbing and harmful to those who are not prepared for it. Among several others, three cases come to my mind, the suicides of Megan Meier, Ryan Patrick Halligan and Abraham K. Biggs.

Megan and Ryan were 13 year old kids who committed suicide due to cyber-bullying (by the way, the girl was tormented by an adult: a fictional boy created by one of her friend's mother!) and Abraham was a 19 year old student whose broadcasted suicide was followed by several idiots who cheered him on while he was dying (those who want more details should follow the links).

In the two first suicides, the Internet was used as means to bully and arguably ended up causing the deaths of those two kids. In the case of Biggs, the Internet allowed people to watch his death and the audience, instead of trying to prevent it, reportedly dared him to do it. The common factor here is the Internet. I can imagine the pain and desperation of the parents and if they ever claim the Internet caused the death of their beloved children I will understand completely.

One of the main characteristics of the Internet is the anonymity it allows its users most of the time. And sometimes it translates into unaccountability. Of course, if you don't have to identify yourself it's easy to be whoever you want, it's easy to hold whatever opinion you want and it's even easier to say whatever the fuck you want to whoever you want without the fear of any appropriate retribution. That's why we see a lot more fights in message boards or instant messaging servers than we'd see in normal life. That's why we see more insulting and, in general, a more daring attitude. And, it also helps assholes to externalize feelings that they'd be penalized for if done in other situations.

For instance, I have a friend who's a tech blogger (check his channel on YouTube!) and he is black (checked with him and he doesn't like that "African-American" bullshit). One of these days he received this comment to one of his videos on YouTube (for those who don't want to click the link, they called him the N word and made some comments about his ethnicity). I doubt that the cocksucking cuntmuscle who wrote that would have had the guts to say it to my buddy face to face (he runs 5 miles a day and lifts weights, I wouldn't wanna fight him). This asshole is probably a normal citizen who happened to enjoy the anonymity of the Internet to express something that would be severely reciprocated in real life.

This anonymity also makes people feel safe and secure and this sense of security makes netizens more open and they usually reveal more about themselves. This may lead to good things. Shy people can find a door to express themselves and there's a surprisingly high number of cases of people who fall in love through the Internet. Sometimes though, this situation makes people more vulnerable and sensitive to insults or inappropriate information.

So, on one side of anonymity we have this daring attitude, this disregard for accountability and the willingness to insult anybody and anything. On the other side, we have people who feel protected and thus are more susceptible to harmful environment. It's an ideal scenario for potential disaster, like those suicides mentioned above.

But, how can we make the Internet a safer place for everybody?

To be continued with the following entries (I want to commit to this series while I'm inspired):

Future World II - The Solution
Where I discuss a possible solution

Future World III - Big Brother
Where another point of view of my solution is thrown in the mix

Future World IV - My Pet Peeves
Where I rant about some annoying people in the Internet