Photo by Ashley Alonzo
First of all, “lurk” is defined as the act of remaining hidden to wait in ambush for someone or something. However, in the urban dictionary, “lurking” is defined as spying on people online while remaining invisible.
Anyhow, who cares about the professional definitions, right? All there is to care about is that “lurking” can really hurt feelings.
Okay, but how can one’s feelings can become hurt by the act of lurking? The answer is simply by finding undesired comments, tweets, replies and even pictures. On the other hand, if people don’t lurk, then they’ll remain blinded and will never know things that go on.
Lurking might seem like creeping, but let’s not pretend like we haven't done it. Most of the times, we end up finding undesirable things but yet dig deeper to find more about it.
Out of a poll of 25 students in Ottawa, 17 students voted on women being the number one “lurkers.” In fact, even women voted for themselves.
“There is not denial on women being lurkers, when women want to know something, they will find out. Yes, we might end up getting our feelings hurt, but we'd rather know than don’t know. At the end, we don’t want to be the reason for others laughter,” said Kayla-Ann Saucedo, sophomore.
In conclusion, students at Ottawa University said it is okay to lurk, but if you are up for it, make sure to accept the side effects of it. Not arguing that most of the times feelings will get hurt, but the possibilities of it are high, and therefore one must be aware of the outcomes of lurking.