Affordances of Cyberspace

1.   How do the current characteristics of the internet environment shape our behaviour and affect our psychology there? 

 One of the main characteristics of the internet environment is identity flexibility. The internet is the biggest identity laboratory in the world, allowing people to become whoever they want. Lack of face to face cues has an impact on how people present their identity in cyberspace as there is no need to be honest about who you really are, you can choose to become any personality you wish. The fact that the main source of online communication is text-based; this allows people to remain themselves, reveal only part of their real identity, or assume total anonymity. 

Anonymity has a disinhibiting effect. It reduces responsibility and allows people to behave in a way – mostly in a negative, malicious way – that they wouldn’t normally in real life. McKenna and Bargh (2000) argue that anonymity will lead to great self-disclosure: “under the protective cloak of anonymity, users can express the way they truly feel and think”. There is nothing to say that there is an innate trait in people that they cannot or do not want to express in real life, but the anonymity of the internet allows them to express this ‘true’ part of themselves without having to deal with the consequences that would occur in real life.

One of the earliest cases of online identity deception was of two popular figures in the online community in the 1980’s. Van Gelder (1991) studied the spectacle of Joan and Alex. Joan had a physical disability which rendered her reluctant to meet people face to face. She therefore created several online friendships with women, and was a confidente to several who had real-life affairs with Alex. However, it turned out that Joan was in fact a persona developed by Alex. Other reported cases by Feldman (2000) involve that of people joining online support groups claiming to have illnesses that they do not actually have. 

My personal opinion is that unless being these alter personalities affects you or other people in any way whatsoever, then there should be no problem continuing it. As McKenna and Bargh (1998) believe, creating online personas of possible selves (a future self that one wishes to become) may serve as an incentive to follow up and act this self in real world – possibly one of the only benefits of creating a virtual identity. 

I came across this wesbite - http://www.noteful.com/publicportal/ 
 It allows people to confess online to anything. Again, the anonymity here means people can do this without feeling the guilt of revealing secrets and without feeling the judgement they may get from friends and family if they were to confide in them. 

Defining Cyberspace

1. How does' the internet' differ from what we conceive of as 'cyberspace'?

The 'internet' is simply the means in which 'cyberspace' can be used. It is the hardware, the physical objects that make up the tools that enable consumers to use and engage in 'cyberspace'. In the same way that a CD player provides music, the internet provides cyberspace.  We think of ‘cyberspace’ as an electronic environment, somewhere we can go to, mentally rather than physically. One dictionary definition of ‘cyberspace’ describes it as a ‘notional environment in which digitized information is communicated over computer networks’.
 
2. Does cyberspace possess the qualities of a real world space?

In some ways it does, but in others it doesn’t. Take ‘Second Life’ for example. In this 3D Online Virtual World, a person can literally create a second life for themselves. Homes can be built, employment can be given, land can be rented and businesses can be started – all dealing with real-life money and other real people across the globe. However, ‘cyberspace’ is more of an environment that doesn’t physically exist, you can’t touch cyberspace. Real-world space includes places where we can physically go to and physically exist in. It is a very fine line but this is where the differences lie.

3. Does the lack of regulatory control on the internet lead a state of adaptive and productive independence or is it fostering expression of, perhaps latent toxic behaviours and danger?

I think that having no control over the internet means people can choose to apply any persona to themselves that they wish. They don’t have to be the person they are in ‘real-life’, and this may be for many reasons, usually for unorthodox reasons. For example, the story of Gemma Barker who, over the internet, pretended to be three different boys in order to lure girls in and sexually assault them. This wouldn’t have been possible without the internet hiding her true identity, and allowing her to be the other three personas she created. It can cause problems psychologically to the people who choose to do this as they become so engrossed in the opposite personalities they create that they eventually start to believe that they are that person, and recreate them in real life.

4. What do you think the future holds for cyberspace? How might it shape society in the future?

I think there are good points and bad points in terms of cyberspace becoming an even more important and relevant part of our society and culture. Social skills, for example, may become more advanced and easier for people with learning difficulties or physical disabilities that leave them unable to speak. Also for people that find it difficult perhaps emotionally to voice their thoughts, feelings and opinions, through the use of cyberspace, they can successfully and easily do this. However, in terms of real-life socialising, this will deplete as people will lose the ability to speak to someone face-to-face. They will not be able to handle real-life social situations and will prefer to hide behind a computer screen before they can easily talk to someone.