What If The Internet Wasn’t All Anonymous?

Think about it for second. No more 10 year old trolls hiding behind their keyboards on YouTube or people free to say what they will in the comments section of The Washington Post because they have an anonymous account.

Your account name online is your first and last name. That is it. Will you still comment the same way you would if you were anonymous? Probably not.

Though let’s think of it this way. Facebook is a perfect example of this. You like a Facebook page and you comment on it. Your name is out there with your comment. Are the people there, fully knowing that they are exposing themselves to potential backlash, writing in the same way they would if their account was anonymous? Tough to measure.

I’m sure there are people who absolutely do it, regardless of anonymity. But with the power lost across all internet resources, I’m sure you will see how many people will keep their mouths shut. In a way, now that you’re in the open, with no shield, you’re truly going to be held accountable for what you write. Held accountable in the way that you’ll probably get a multitude of private messages outlining death threats or how a terrible person you are for what you wrote and that you should not exist and such.

At least that 10 year old troll probably will think twice before telling you that you suck at Call of Duty. Then again, it’s a 10 year old, so it might not stop them.