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Emily Brubaker

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

7 December 2017

The Internet is Monstrous

In day to day life, everyone is connected to the internet. This constant connection to the

world and social media complicates our lives and relationships. Through this use of the internet

and social media, we connect to the world and disconnect from our morals. Before making any

sort of social media account, everyone should have a clear understanding of what social media

really is, because the negative effects such as bullying, false confidentiality, and eccentric creeps

surfing the internet can truly be monstrous. The belief that everything can be deleted, and the

values that are taken away from us with each regretful post we share, all take part in the fears

that lie in between the space of social media. Regarding our values, we do not want people to

look down on us just because we post something they may not like. Our biggest fear is that our

private posts may turn public, and other people may see something that we do not want them to

see. Social media is one of the most immense spaces in the world, and we need to take into

consideration the depths that it holds.

Bullying within the massive realm of social media is common and can bring down the user

through emotional attacks. People have the freedom to say their opinion online, but now it has

taken a cruel turn. Most online users do not think about how their words and actions can affect
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someone. Replying to posts with bullying and aggression gives the attacker a feeling of

credibility. They know that they are in control of how they make the person feel. I once was a

bully in junior high school. Although it was not a proud moment of mine, I felt powerful because

I was in charge of how someone felt at all times. Many other users follow this power and look

up to the attacker. In the book, Understanding Rhetoric, drawn and written by professors and

artists, it is expressed by professor Jonathan Alexander how an audiences point of view is

crucial to writing, All writing is influenced by what you know about an audience's

expectations(Alexander 7). Not all people value the same issues, and some value the comfort

that bullying gives them. The bully does not fear that they will have consequences for hurting

someone else. Instead, the bully often looks forward to the hurt they give others. The bully

knows that people who are watching the act are expecting more and more. In another experience

with actually being the victim of a bully, many people fed off of my hurt. In other words, they

found my sadness and sensitivity amusing. This amusement gave people something to look

forward to in order to make them laugh. People fear that if they stand up for the victim, they too

will be ridiculed. What's ironic about this is that the people watching the bullying take place

would never want it to happen to them, yet never stand up for what is right, which makes social

media a vulnerable space.

One of the most negative aspects of the internet is the lie that posts can be wiped from the

internet forever. While it is comforting to believe that everything posted online is private and can

be deleted, it is not true. Even if an account is on private, or a post has been deleted, it will stay
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on the internet forever. People follow their idols, friends, and family; most of all, people follow

others that are not their friends just to share their posts and send them to others. This widely

discussed belief that the posts on the internet are private can harm many social media users for

the rest of their lives. In the book, Monsters: A Bedford Spotlight Reader by Andrew J.

Hoffman, it is explained in the article Here Be Monsters by Ted Genoways, that we do not

know what the future holds for us, This fear of the unknown, of that future that lies just past the

horizon, has been with us always(Genoway 130). We do not know where these pictures will end

up, and they can easily be placed into the wrong hands of someone we do not trust. Evidently, a

new way of using social media has recently become worldwide on Instagram. Users are making

new Instagram accounts and calling them finstas; otherwise known as a fake instagram. These

accounts have scandalous photos of users doing drugs, drinking alcohol, and much more. These

users are posting pictures that should never be posted on the internet in the first place. I have

personally never made an account like this, but do follow some of my friends who have. If

anyone were to see these scandalous posts besides trustworthy friends, there is no telling what

could happen.

Taking what we have learned about confidentiality online, it is important to address that

things posted online can come back in the future. For example, potential employers for a job may

be searched up online by their potential boss. If an inappropriate post shows up, the boss may

fear that the fit for the job will not be right. Posting images online is not the only issue, it is also

the captions. In the book, Understanding Rhetoric, it is stated that Just adding words can
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change the entire meaning of an image, and the framing of the content matters, too(Alexander

15). I have posted pictures that I wish I never posted today. For example, I have posted pictures

of myself partying, or pictures of others while making fun of them. This goes against my own

values because I wish to be respected and looked up to by others. The people who saw these

negative posts might have thought differently of me than what I think of myself. These pictures,

along with their captions, deconstruct the values I hold within myself. They may have come off

to others that I hold no standards and do not fear of what I post online. In reality, we all should

have a slight fear of who sees our posts and where they end up.

Another monstrous issue that comes up more than often on the internet is stalkers.

Stalkers are one of the many monsters on social media, and they take advantage of many people's

lives online, every second of the day. Although people should be careful about who they talk too

online, sometimes it is hard to resist meeting new people. These dangerous humans online are

what makes people cautious about the internet, and forces some to limit what they want to post.

In the article, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead by Chuck

Klosterman, Alice Gregory states that Opening Safari is an actively destructive

decision(Klosterman 42). The internet is destructive because not much good can come out of it.

Stalkers are not the only problem. With scammers, hackers, and other ways to manipulate people

online, it is hard to avoid the issues of the internet. Social media is a space that is already twisted

and unsafe enough, yet stalkers make these fears in the media even worse. Everyone in my

family, including myself, have many social media accounts on private so only people we accept
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can see them. However, that does not stop other people we do not know from trying to get ahold

of us. While these stalkers can do outrageous things like threaten the lives of others or follow

them around town, online stalkers usually create fake accounts to convince the user that they

know them or just want to make new friends. In highschool, I had a stalker who made every sort

of account on Instagram to try and get ahold of me. Before I set my Instagram page to private, he

would screenshot my posts and send them to me through various phone numbers which are now

blocked. This stalker, along with many others online are a big reason why people fear using the

internet. In order to share my life with my friends and family, I desire to share a lot of my life

online, but cannot. Stalkers on social media, as well as the entire internet, is one big fear just by

itself.

The internet can only be a safe space if a user knows what to look out for to help avoid

many troublesome situations. Bullying, private posts, and stalkers, all take massive responsibility

for the dangers on the internet and social media. What's tough about this is that there is not a way

to stay away from these situations unless a user simply does not use the internet. There is no way

to avoid bullying; either someone likes you or they do not. People will continue to voice their

opinion despite what you feel. This only deconstructs the bullys values that they have of

themselves by showing people who they really are. Confidentiality online will never actually

exist, and it is ultimately up to the user to decide what they think is appropriate to post, and who

they believe should see it. Stalkers, unknown followers, and people who swear they went to

highschool with you, are more dangerous and should not be turned with a blind eye. After all, the
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main fears we have of the internet are because of these disgusting people online. Overall,

monsters are not just creatures living under your bed. These monsters exist on the internet, a

place where we all prefer to envision as an unthreatened space. The internet and social media

will forever stay monstrous to society, but it is up to us to recognize the issues and provide

assistance to adjust it day by day.

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Works Cited

Alexander, Jonathan. Losh, Elizabeth. Spaces For Writing. Understanding Rhetoric: A

Graphic Guide to WritingGraphic Guide to Writing, by Cannon, K., & Cannon, Z, 2nd

ed., Macmillan Learning, 2017, pp. 1-31.

Genoways, Ted. Here Be Monsters. Monsters: A BedFord Spotlight Reader, by Andrew J.

Hoffman, 3rd ed., Macmillan Learning, 2017, pp. 130-133.

Klosterman, Chuck. My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead. Monsters:

A BedFord Spotlight Reader, by Andrew J. Hoffman, 3rd ed., Macmillan Learning, 2017,

pp. 40-45.