Lately, an anonymous app called “Secret” has been all the rage in my social circles. I first discovered it through GeekPark colleague A Dai’s timeline. Driven by curiosity, I started using Secret and invited many friends to join. After a week, I came to the conclusion that this app — or rather, this entire genre of anonymous apps — had made my life considerably worse.

From first contact to uninstalling Secret, barely a week had passed. Initially, I approached it with pure curiosity and a playful mindset. I wanted to see what interesting tidbits were floating around — maybe some juicy gossip about my friends. To feed this desire, I sent the download link to every single person I knew in one night, even resorting to threats like “download this or our friendship is over” with some of them.

More and more friends around me started using this anonymous app. Every day I could see the things they posted — words they would never dare speak in real life. Meanwhile, I played the role of a dedicated commentator: sometimes offering counsel, sometimes mocking, sometimes just trolling. You could say that leaving irresponsible comments on other people’s posts was completely consequence-free, because no one knew who I was — as long as the app didn’t get hacked.

Then I began seeing things I shouldn’t have seen, and I was thrilled. But when I watched my friends gleefully leaking secrets, hurling insults, exposing each other, and guessing who said what, I realized I couldn’t stay detached. Because you never know if the next person to be exposed, criticized, or outed would be you. My friends were discussing me, laying bare their true thoughts for all to see. Yet I had no idea who they actually were — I only knew they were my friends.

I think it’s time for me to escape this app.

My stance on anonymous apps has shifted from supportive to opposed. From personal experience, I acknowledge that anonymous apps serve a purpose. But perhaps we should look at it from another angle: the “secrets” on an app like this are deeply intertwined with users’ lives and social circles. As long as your friends are using it, you can see the secrets buried in their hearts. This creates an enormous sense of anticipation — everyone wants to know the unspeakable secrets of those around them. Discovering that a friend has leaked something you didn’t know about could excite you for ages. But when you discover that these secrets mention you, you might feel furious, because not everyone in your social circle holds you in warm regard.

From another perspective, because these apps operate on anonymity, users don’t need to take responsibility for what they say (since others can’t identify the poster, the poster naturally bears no consequences). Imagine, then, what happens when someone gets “outed” by a “friend” or “friend of a friend” with some so-called “secret” and gets smeared by rumors — they can’t even defend themselves on the platform. Moreover, when your “friends” and “friends of friends” see these supposedly explosive secrets, they have the right to believe or not believe them. But who can guarantee the truth of any given secret? The consequences are self-evident.

Let me share another scenario — something that actually happened to me. When you see someone post one of your secrets on the app, your first reaction is probably: “Which jerk leaked this? Hmm, probably so-and-so. Maybe not, but I’d better watch out for them from now on.” This can lead to a highly dramatic outcome: this person never actually leaked anything about you, but you assume they did, so you go and leak something about them to get even — after all, they might never know it was you. Then… everyone starts leaking everyone else’s secrets, creating total chaos. Ask yourself: can you be happy living in a circle where you’re constantly on guard against your own friends, constantly resenting some anonymous accuser?

I believe the original intent of anonymous apps was simply to let us release the pressure buried deep inside. Not to unleash the darkest impulses in everyone’s hearts, trapping us all in a living hell of suspicion and hostility.

I can’t help but ponder this question: what is the actual value of these “anonymous” apps? Will my life truly be better because of them? Perhaps you already have your answer. Technology can sometimes make life worse — it is a double-edged sword.

[Note] This article was republished by the well-known internet blog “Moonlight Blog” — article link