Sometimes, I think about how much the next generation will change because of the Internet, and I feel old in anticipation.
They'll never know what it's like to depend on the radio or a physical store to select music for them. They might never have to set foot in a library to do a research paper. They'll probably never use paper maps or huge yellow phone books. Even now, I haven't done most of those things in years.
But along with the way the Internet has changed how society gets information or entertainment, I wonder if it's already making us careless about what we say.
Almost from birth, we learn we are responsible for every syllable that leaves our lips. At age 4, I figured out that when I talked back to the babysitter, my parents heard about it. And in my teens, copy-paste instant message conversations and the dangers of three-way calling a la "Mean Girls" trained me to think about what I said. Through the history of the world, whatever was said or written could be traced back to the source with very little detective work, with the possible exception of words written in permanent marker on bathroom stalls. Over the past five or 10 years, that's changed. Facebook has an "Honesty Box," where anyone can comment on a Web site anonymously, and bloggers can post their opinions to the entire universe without having their names attached.
On Wednesday, a Manhattan judge ruled that Google had to release the identity of an anonymous blogger who made defamatory comments about fashion model Liskula Cohen.
The blogger, 29-year-old Rosemary Port, didn't admit to doing anything wrong - instead, she complained to the New York Daily News that she felt her privacy had been violated and announced plans to sue Google.
What is it about the World Wide Web that, at its most innocent, can turn adults into middle-schoolers? Granted, it's human nature that's the problem, but the Internet seems to make an excellent platform for nasty behavior. Spreading information is power. And with anonymity, it's power without any strings attached. It's the rush that comes with writing an enemy's name in graffiti without the risk of getting caught.
Scarily, this loss of accountability brings traffic to Web sites.
Sites like juicycampus.blogspot.com become popular by promising complete anonymity in exchange for rumors about our neighbors. Rape victims see their names posted on blogs and their characters vilified. News stories about the shooting at the New York immigration center get blown up with racist comments from anti-immigrant readers.
And the public eats it up. We'll talk about how horrible it is over wine at dinner, but we go home to our computers and participate. If Paris Hilton wasn't called a slut so often that she can't sue everyone who does, we'd probably all be dealing with lawsuits.
There are no consequences for those who gossip or slander anymore - only for the subjects of our gossip. The power of ugly language is undervalued because it's so easy to spread.
When federal judges become the principals scrubbing obscenities off bathroom walls, I question whether interactive maps and search engines can outweigh society's gradual loss of accountability and humanity.
Hilary Lehman is a journalism senior. Her column appears on Wednesdays.
