Online Disinhibition Effect - Possible Consequences

Possible Consequences

Perhaps one of the most serious consequences of the online disinhibition effect is the advent of cyber bullying in recent years. The website overcomebullying.org states that “ the advent of modern communications such as email, chat, text messaging and cell phones as well as the ability to publish online on websites, blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace making their message instantly available to millions, the bully's reach and powers of social manipulation have been increased exponentially.” The site goes on to suggest that “ the internet lends itself to this indifference. Bullies don't have to see their victims or answer for their actions,” which seems to fit with the You Don’t Know Me and You Can’t See Me concepts.

Likewise, the online disinhibition effect might also be attributable to the controversial state of the comment sections on many online blogs, and on sites like YouTube. Blogs like Stop Anonymous Online Comments claim that the anonymity granted internet users leads to comments “ filled with exaggerations, outright lies, threats of violence, and blatant racism,” and that “the vast majority of these reader comments are published in complete anonymity...” “This anonymity,” the author goes on to opine, “fosters an environment that tolerates, even encourages, comments and statements that tear at the fabric that holds our society together.”

The general feeling is that the average internet user would not make such comments or behave in such ways if not for the invisible smokescreen that online usernames and anonymity provide. According to Norman H. Holland, “people regress,” when communicating online, because, among other reasons, the physical distance from other users and the inability to interpret body language and physical reactions results in a lack of direct feedback.

The online disinhibition effect can also have potentially deleterious effects on one’s job-security and future employment opportunities. Sixteen-year-old Kimberley Swann was fired from her job due to negative comments she made about her occupation on her Facebook page, while another infamous case involved a woman, Heather Armstrong, being terminated after “lampooning” her colleagues on the internet.

Overall, these are all consequences of certain internet users believing themselves to be unchained from typical social strictures. “Compared with face-to-face interactions,” the author of Six Causes of Online Disinhibition states, “online we feel freer to do and say what we want and, as a result, often do and say things we shouldn't.”