The Role of Anonymity in the Modern World!

Imagine yourself surrounded by a group of people - friends, family or acquaintances - would you rather say anything that comes to your mind or think twice before speaking it out loud? Presuming it to be the latter, I want you to rethink your answer if you are protected by a wall of anonymity and no one can decipher your identity. Would you still think twice before talking about what's actually in your heart? Did you have second thoughts?

Just as Cuttlefish possesses the ability to blend with surroundings by changing its color and texture, humans camouflage their personalities according to the people they are surrounded by. We are conscious of our actions, aware of our choices and judged for our statements. No matter what we do and how we do it, we are always encircled with what-ifs and why-nots. As a wood frog freezes itself during winters by seeking cover under the leaves and thawing with surroundings, we humans have a tendency to freeze our actual thoughts/comments as we speak out loud in social events. However, if given a chance to express while being shielded by anonymity, we tend to express our real thoughts, sometimes which are inappropriate, unacceptable and unexpected.

In order to understand this theory, I recently asked one of my friends to interact with strangers, who he/she will never ever come across again with. Both people belonged to different countries, India and Europe (each unknown to the geographical location of the other person). The chat was arranged on an anonymous forum where they did not see or hear each other. All they could do was express through writing. As the interaction started, we realized that questions revolved around names, location, interests and hobbies. What came out as a shock was one of the texts read, 'I can't believe you are from India, I have always met people who were too bad at writing English. Stop lying and tell me where are you from?' 

Now imagine those two people sitting across a table and having a face-to-face conversation, do you think any of them would have put across a question like this? It's not wrong to question anything, but it's certainly wrong to take advantage of anonymity to desensitize anything.

Another test was calling up strangers and asking about someone they didn't know. 1 out of 5 people used slang, when called more than once, to let the other person know that he/she is dialing-in a wrong number.

Now imagine, a group of people calling you by someone else's name in the market. You saw them and told them they are mistaken; they told you that your face resembles one of the friends, all laughed. When they saw you again months later, they called you using their friend's name again. Would you be angry and abuse them? Or would you probably laugh at the scenario and tell them it's a mistake. Probably because you have unknowingly acquainted them.

Our society is a replica of a greenhouse, where controlled notions are expressed as long as we have a regulated climate. The moment we take away humans from a green house and place them in a forest of anonymity, they turn wild and express themselves by taking over any uncovered ground with actual thoughts. Does that mean that we shouldn't be exposed to the world of anonymity? No, it means that we need to be self-righteous with capability to realise what's right at all times and making an attempt towards retaining it.

Humans behave in accordance with the surroundings they are a part of. Anonymity is a shield that is often used to express what we can't display in front of the known members of the world. We are not self-righteous. We have been dependent on external factors for survival long enough to paralyze values when those external factors are no longer in control.