Every Screen Has Two Sides

"Secrets, secrets, are no fun! Secrets are for everyone." The individual who came up with this cute catch phrase could never have been so right, but they also could never have anticipated the application to one of the most defining problem/success of this generation: social media.

Secrets may be fun for the taunting, but the potential for people to cause harm toward the subject of the subject shoots through the roof when social media becomes the platform for this form of cyberbullying. In an article by The Economist, the most prominent form of bullying has shifted away from the bully on the playground who stole kids' lunch money to the person or people who preserve their identity online. The industry of anonymous social media sites and platforms sprouted in the mid-to-late 2000s when VC firms invested in inklings that later transformed into multi-million and, for some, multi-billion dollar customer bases. One example is Yik Yak, a challenge that many school have had to deal with, the Glenbrooks included. Yik Yak is a location-based site where one can post just about anything and has an audience of whoever is within a 1.5-mile radius can view. It became a hotbed of gossip and slander and has caused many students--or victims--to seek help from guidance counselors. Clearly, there is a problem with the anonymity factor in this case. Especially for teens, the concoction of being able to keep oneself secret--which functionally erases common bounds of morality and conscience--and having secrets of others to share, a great deal of harm can be done. However, is anonymity all bad?

Contrary to popular belief, there are always two sides to the screen. There is certainly a case against the traditional social media platform like Facebook, that actually centers around ego, vanity, and the concept of a profile: the image one architects for the rest of the world to see. Little do most users know that what they don't see is equally if not more important than one of their friends' or followers' profiles. By hiding secrets, which are what we are in the end, a false or distorted image has the ability to make others feel quite bad about themselves (see video below). In this article, the case is made that given the fact that this same focus on vanity, that has even driven people to suicide, people are more likely to come forward and make themselves vulnerable. I an interview, the CEO of a booming company (that pioneered the application known as Whisper) pulled up a screenshotted conversation between one girl, who shared that she was going to inflict self-harm, and another girl who talked her down anonymously. Granted, we must put this situation in context ad look at the application holistically, but it is important to recognize the alternative impacts that secrecy can have.

After all, we are more inclined to share secrets with those we don't know with the comfort that there isn't, theoretically, a way for those secrets to be traced back to our thumbs tapping the screen in little text boxes. Drawing the distinction between whose secrets are being shared, however, does teach us the valuable lesson that coming forward with our own secrets can go as far as to save us, but sharing those of others before they are ready can do the exact opposite. Secrets, therefore, should by no means be considered playthings and need to be treated as even more fragile when posted where they can't be erased.