Reflections 1: Behavior on the internet

In reading the “Negative Effects of Internet Usage” article, I found that I had a problem with how the author went about explaining his thesis that the internet is bad and should be destroyed. Several points were brought up that seemed to make uninformed or outrageous claims. As I read further, I realized that I had experienced some online culture that Otter had not examined. While I personally believe that most of what Otter was discussing in his essay, I still have seen some of what he talked about.

Otter’s first major claim about the internet questions the experiences that can be had roaming the four corners of the internet:

People also go online because the Internet offers freedom to do whatever they want, to say whatever they want and to be whoever they want.
This could have a negative effect since people will act in certain ways and say certain things that they otherwise wouldn’t do in real life. Furthermore, because the Internet offers so much freedom, you can find your ideal self much easier, but it’s not the same as your social self. The difference is due to you talking to a computer screen and you talking to a real person. Thus, the experiences we encounter on the Internet are not the same as the ones we encounter in real life. (Otter)

Why would having different life experiences through the internet be considered a bad thing? If anything a variety of experiences allows one to have an open mind about how the world works and how society behaves in general. “Looking for fewer restrictions, people flock from their social lives online… Online, there is no need to act or behave a certain way because of your religion, society, culture, etc. You can just be yourself and need not worry about what others think about you. Therefore, you can be free online” (Otter). One of the best illustrations for this statement is 4chan. This online image forum holds little rules and allows people to discuss and behave in any manner they so choose. The only requirement here is that what rules there are must be followed or else the user’s IP address will be banned.

Because of the nature of this website and the total anonymity of the users (mostly the Random or /b/ board users) have developed a personality specifically for this website and various other online areas. Often times groups of /b/ users will form online groups and attack certain websites such as Habbo Hotel, Gaia and Neopets, spamming various memes and behaving in disruptive and hateful ways simply in order to incite anger and argument from their targets. The following link leads to a Youtube video of a /b/ raid on Habbo Hotel. I will caution the viewer when watching this video, the behavior of the users is not what is socially accepted in offline society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgW5nKAil70&feature=related The music (Anthem by Five Iron Frenzy) that accompanies the music video speaks exactly the kind of mentality that these users have when they commit to these acts. http://www.lyricstime.com/five-iron-frenzy-anthem-lyrics.html

There is a movement that has grown from the 4chan community under the name Anon. Their members consist of people with skill in programming and hacking as well as people with analytical and research skills. Their main focus is on Project Chanology, a cyber war and series of protests against the Church of Scientology. There have been incidents of death threats, prank calls and even a case of attacking a target that used a proxy leading to an old couple lacking internet.

Ultimately, anonymity on the internet leads to a different behavior. This portrait of 4chan is the internet at its worst. This is literally as bad as it can get, and yet there are still some rules and some limitations. While internet culture can spread beyond the internet and into the offline world, most of the internet is not like this. The thing is that each website is a separate entity with separate rules and separate communities. Some communities provide nourishing and intellectual environments, while others are content with lying in their cesspool. The internet itself cannot be judged as a whole, but as different parts interconnected. After all, it is merely a very large network.


Landers, Chris. “The Internets Are Going to War” City Paper. Jan. 2008. 25 Oct. 2008.
http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=15150