Anonymous accounts create anxiety

The glow of a notification tears through the darkness as yet another DGS meme Instagram account is created. What might this one hold? Lies, jokes, deceptions and gossip.

While a majority of these accounts are all in good nature, it is the accounts run by purposely hidden figures that often cause the most damage. Last year, students couldn’t walk through the halls without hearing somebody talk about the recent posts by one of the many DGS meme Instagram account pages.

The light jokes turned aggressive very quickly and got the minds of students wondering who the person behind these anonymous posts was. Senior Hayley Coronado saw the aggressiveness as these accounts grew in popularity.

“At the beginning, these accounts were really entertaining to me. As time went on, though, the things that were being posted honestly were disgusting and mean. Things like ‘this person is ugly’ or ‘this person likes this person;’ it honestly was really exposing people and in a way made me feel bad as a follower reading these things,” Coronado said.

Students can find themselves tense, wondering if the next post can be about them. Senior Zack Deplaris had a post made about him, which changed his perception about these accounts.

“I think it was really weird and unsettling that people were posting things about me when they had no affiliation with me, and I had no idea who they were or who was saying these things about me,” Deplaris said.

The situation escalated as first and last names were being dropped connected to these confessions. Junior Maeve Galvan expresses the curiosity that she and many others shared.

“I get a weird feeling because why would someone want to post these things about people that may be private information? I feel that other people telling them this or them knowing something about you personally and then posting it, just goes to show how gossip, especially on social media, can spread quickly, and it doesn’t help that most of these accounts are anonymous, so it makes you wonder who you can really trust,” Galvan said.

These anonymous accounts may be doing it out of fun and games, but there are actual legal consequences that come along with posting personal information about people without their permission. Leaving people wondering what will pop up on their screen next.