Exemplification Essay: Obscuring Online Identity

Obscuring Online Identities
In the midst of her two loyal and dependable friends, Jayde wouldn’t back down. The way the girls had always sneered and bumped past her weak shoulders, which was weighed by the bulging backpack, used to make her want to shrink behind the towering stack of textbooks planted on her rickety desk. The slight squeeze between the tightly held hands, wet from the beads of nervous sweat, was just enough to ensure Jayde that she wasn’t alone. Jayde was ready to fight back and restore the courage and dignity the girls had seized from her. With her friends’ presence, Jayde felt able to confront the girls of their rotten behavior and finally use the few bad words she had recently learned from a book. Jayde felt able to do anything.

The obscured identity creates a barrier between the harasser and the victim. For example, if one is a victim of cyberbullying under their real identity, the bullying contains more impact than if one is bullied under a fake user account. One is less able to feel that he himself is getting harassed. Therefore, the usage of an obscured online identity may help protect a victim from a cyber criminal effectively (Source

Because one may be defined by the information they have available in their account, people tend to make a slight or a great change in their info box. A variety of datas, such as gender, profile picture, job, and address, cause people to judge and be judged without even meeting the person in advance. Take for instance a company that needs an employee who can perform complicated tasks on a computer. Using gender discrimination, the employers may take the list of candidates and completely throw out any names that sound female without taking a look at their resume (Source B). This shows that girls may be open to a lot more opportunities if their name is gender-neutral, which explains that making a slight change in identity may get rid of many unfair discriminations in the world.
Finally, the purpose of obscuring online identities is the ability to freely express oneself. One is able to act upon their true opinions on the internet if one is certain that his cyber footprints are unknown, because one is more comfortable taking sides anonymously (Source F). The slight doubt that this online opinion may get one in trouble, abstains one from taking the risk and using their real identity. Any negative footprints one leaves public on the internet may