Invisibility in social networks

1560 Words7 Pages

If one were to wake up in the morning to find themselves invisible, what would they do for the day? Would they act as if it were just a usual day or would rebel for the day solely to the fact that nobody would know it was them? In the book, The Invisible Man, something like this happens to the main character of the story. Did the man use this time to do things that would hurt or help society? Whether it was for the good or for the bad, H.G. Wells, the author of the book, uses the character’s actions to better society. Because of H.G. Wells’s use of theme, literary devices, and plot in the book the readers are able to uncover the different messages Wells hid throughout his writings. Through Wells’s use of plot in the story, it is described …show more content…

Because of the internet, people adopt a kind of "invisibility." The theme proves that this invisibility has an interesting effect on society. As Scott Westerfeld said in the afterword, “perhaps the internet is serving as a mass experiment in invisibility. Most online environments lack any way to communicate facial expressions; all of us are wrapped in bandages or hidden in the uncanny costume of an avatar. And when removed from the social fabric of visual cues-smiles and frowns ad nods-many of us react to one another as we would to something almost human” (179). I felt that this was a very important piece of information to factor in when coming to this conclusion. The increasing lack of human interaction with one another is causing society’s social skills to slowly fade away. When asked, most people would say it is easier to talk and interact with somebody online rather than in person. Interacting online creates a sort of distance, like an uncanny costume, that can isolate one from humanity. I feel as if the internet has affected today's generation, including myself, the most. Before posting a picture, everyone feels the need to edit the photo just so it can be “social media worthy”. Along with that, Westerfield also says of John Suler’s article that he "describes the tendency of otherwise well-adjusted people to behave antisocially online. Often these people are anonymous, but even when identity is preserved, human behavior is different online." (178). People are always trying to portray their lives as picture perfect online when, in reality, this may not be the case. Due to things like this, we are all a little bit invisible. But, because I can now recognize that the theme is related to the fact that invisibility hurting today’s population, I have learned that it is a necessity to stay away from these problems in order to not