The way I see it, e-mail and other "social discourse" online allows room for deception. While it is easier to talk online because there is no face to face interaction (unless by webcam). For very shy people, its awesome. They get to express Ideas they could never have done in reality snd it may even allow them to have more friends. But this is the problem I see with it. Online conversations create an alternate reality, where some real life rules are not applied. Here, I read this situation that illustrates my point:
There was a young man who had been going out with his girlfriend throughout college. But he was feeling bored and felt that he needed a change. He had so many things he wanted to do but he hadn't done them by the time he and his girlfriend got engaged. So he created a fake account where he would portray all the stuff he wished he did and was like being a black belt in Karate, a musician and having an interesting life. When he did this, he started getting friends, mostly females. His fiance found out about this and felt that he was unhappy with her because of this fake account. He argued that the girls didn't matter and he was doing nothing wrong because the character he created did not even exist.
This situation illustrates the alternate reality created by the secrecy of oline conversation. That is the incredible danger with online conversations. When people are not there to monitor you or may you think they are watching, we get a burst of elation because we can get away with things that we could not normally. Take for example speeding on the freeway or even road rage. You go as fast as you want until you see a cop and then you slow down. In road rage, you curse and yell as much as you want but when you are out side your car, walking in the street, you won't act the same. We act this way because we believe that the bubble of anonymity will protect us. For goodness sake, this is how pedophiles masquerade on the internet. They know that many believe that online reality and this living reality are the same and these sick people take advantage of that. Children are especially vulnerable to it because they are still learning to distinguish from reality and fantasy.
I don't believe all conversations are going to be digital in the future. We still need that human contact. Not just to make sure we have human contact to know we exist, but also to monitor our actions. When we are left to our own devices we do more stupid things in certain situations. I believe that online conversation need to have the same rule of reality applied to it, otherwise there is too much deception to handle. I love this line: "Who watches the watchers." This is the reality of online conversations and I cast a bleak future on it.
Many people don't understand how dangerous the internet really is. They hide behind their anonymity, and do horrible things, like sexual harassment and cyber-bullying, because they think that no one can catch them. Really, people aren't as careful as they think. Everything that goes up on the internet will never ever go away.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of human conversations will become digital, just because it's so convenient, but I do agree that humans will always need face to face contact. It's just part of being human, that we need companionship.We do need human interaction to monitor us, but I think that monitoring would not be the biggest motivation for human contact. We know we need to be monitored to keep us from getting ourselves into too much trouble, but we also don't like being told what to do, and more often than not, we won't seek out reinforcement on our behavior. It's human nature that we don't want to be rebuked, and so I feel that we wouldn't seek it, if given the opportunity to avoid it.
Companionship, however, is a whole different topic. Humans crave interactivity, so we do seek that. I feel that humans would seek face to face communication outside of digital communication just because we crave seeing others.
Hello Jasmine. This blog post reminds me of this news article I read a few years back. There was an Indian man who was talking online to a random woman. Unbeknownst to him, this random woman was his wife! She had no idea whatsoever that she was talking to her husband. One day this couple had decided to meet in public for the first time. Upon seeing each other he freaked out and yelled at the top of his lungs that he wanted a divorce. I thought it was pretty lame how he was mad at her for chatting with men online. He was doing the same with women.
ReplyDeleteI am also reminded of another online chatting story gone wrong. This one is hilarious. There was this married guy who would have a secret identity/second life chatting with men. He would send emails and explicit pictures back and forth to an older gentleman. This older gentleman happened to be his father-in-law! He had found out because his mother-in-law shares the same email account as her husband and found all the emails. No one found out that it was him due to the pictures being head down.
Although these situations look rare, they happen more often than you think. We think we are in this bubble of anonymity when we really are not. I remember I was chatting to this guy on a music forum for a band who lived in Louisiana. This same guy was friends with someone I knew in Pomona. Crazy! This really is a small world.
Hello Jasmine! I agree with you, online interaction can be dangerous. People are pretty ignorant about ones privacy while using these sites. Most everything we publish is there for people to see and most of the time ultimately gets us in trouble. The fact that we cannot see who we’re talking to face to face, makes more people susceptible to making courageous but stupid judgments. The anecdote you used is becoming so prevalent. I have heard so many stories of couples being cheated on because of Myspace. I hate to say but I am an example of that, just another relationship killed by Myspace. But I think people need to be more informed about the use of social networking and be more responsible with it. Rather than being reckless on the internet. When you talk about these sites becoming an alternate reality is valid too. Many people have become obsessed and use this as there only social interaction. I think the internet and many of these social networks are perfect when used for help. Rather than most that abuse it by leaning on the convenience. It causes many problems in peoples lives. But when used responsibly and with respect for others it can be a powerful tool. As anything could be if people don’t take advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your illustration. I feel like so many people do that. When I saw this I thought of a song called “Online” by Brad Paisley. I know that it is a country song, but it describes this situation perfectly. Here are some of the lyrics “I still live with my mom and dad, I’m 5 foot 3 and overweight…a mild asthmatic, and I’ve never been to second base, but there’s a whole ‘nother me that you need to see, go check out MySpace…online I live in Malibu. I pose for Calvin Klein,…I’ve got a set of six pack abs that would blow your mind…I’m so much cooler online.” That is just some of the song. I think that it is a serious problem though. People do not want to face their reality so they create this false happiness. What happens when it hits them that it was never true? I think that it may seem good at the moment but in the long run it is not good to create a false you. I also agree that, yes, not all conversations are going to be digital in the future. A part of our human nature is to have a desire for human contact. If communication was all digital, I think that there would be a strong sense of loneliness and disconnection.
ReplyDeleteI found your comments very interesting. It is true that it is easier for people to hide behind the online curtain and express themselves in ways they never would face-to-face. I know that I even have an easier time composing emails and expressing myself more effectively than I can face-to-face. I think part of the reason is that I have time to sit and think about everything that I want to say before hitting send. I get wrapped up in emotions or nervousness when the meeting is face-to-face and I often forget everything I want to say.
ReplyDeleteThere are many dangers to hiding behind this curtain though as you expressed. I believe many affairs have started that way because married people don’t think anyone can see what they are doing. They often think there is really no harm in talking to someone online because it’s not like you are really meeting physically with the other person. It is still a dangerous form of deception and infidelity even in a virtual atmosphere. It usually progresses to physically meeting with the person you have been chatting with too. It’s just human nature to think the grass is greener on the other side but the key is not to give into this faulty thinking.
People are also deceptive on the social networks by wanting to present themselves in a way that may not be reality.