The Effects Of Cyberspace: Reflections And Transformations

1197 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on Identity in cyberspace

Everyone knows how it feels to wish they could be some else. At some point almost everyone thinks about what it would be like to see things from a different perspective. The internet provides a safe and easy way for people to "try out new identities." It gives people the opportunity to have lives that are completely unconnected to their real identity. Sherry Turkle theorizes in "Cyberspace and Identity" that those who make the most of their online lives approach it in spirit of self-reflection and those who are aware of their online personalities use the internet for personal and social transformations. Alex Pham's "Boy, You Fight Like a Girl" confirms Turkle's theory that cyberspace is used by many people as a means of self reflection as well as for personal and social transformations. Pham's essay provides specific examples of these transformations and reflections. It is clear in her essay certain people discover things online and reflect back on themselves while others transform themselves online to let different sides of their personalities escape and act differently then they ever would in real life.

Many people use virtual communities as a means of self-reflection. As Turkle explains the people who make the most of their online lives see it as a means of self-reflection. This means they use it as a way to better understand themselves as well as improve they way they treat others. Taking on different identities allows a person to see things from different perspectives and understand the thoughts and actions of other people. An obvious example of this represented in Pham's essay is men pretending to be women and women pretending to be men. In real life it is hard for the opposite sex to understand how the other is treated on a daily basis. The internet allows males and females to play roles of the opposite sex and explore a little of what the other experiences. One specific example from Pham's essay is Ralph Koster, a 29 year old who plays a female, on playing a woman he says, "It makes you think more about what you're saying and how you're sending subtle messages without being aware of it" (286). Seeing from a female's perspective how males treat females made Ralph question his own behaviors and specifically the way he treats women.

Show More
Related

  • Celeste Biever’s “Modern Romance” and Sherry Turkle’s “Cyberspace and Identity”

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Modern Romance,” Celeste Biever describes romantic relationships in the Internet community. She describes how people can romantically be involved on the Internet and how the Internet teaches one to learn about a person from the inside out.In “Cyberspace and Identity,” Sherry Turkle also expresses her interest in the Internet and how it allows for the act of self-exploration. Even though their focus on what the Internet is used for are different from the perspective of one another, Biever and Turkle both see the Internet as a place for exploration in a general sense.

    Read More

  • Life In The Hall Of Mirror By Andrew Lam Summary

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    One identity is the person an individual is online, and the second identity is the personality an individual is in real life. Most online personalities are more open and talkative. Online, people are not afraid to say what is on their mind. What they share is open to the world, but is behind a screen and typed up, so there is no face-to-face conversation or debate going on. Not having anyone to say what is on the individual’s mind in person lets down the guard of what others think of the specific

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Is Google Making USupid And Sherry Turkle

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    In both works, the authors identify how the influence on technology is changing how humans identify themselves. Carr using his experience to explain this idea giving the reader the idea that he is feeling the effect technology is taking in his identity. “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory “(53). He gives the reader a firsthand insight of how the influence of technology has change his own identity changing his mind as a whole. He also gives the example of becoming machinelike. A metaphor he uses to explain that humans are becoming emotionless, and less caring for certain ideas. They are becoming cold and brainless are the new part of their identity altering the ability to think. While, Turkle uses everyday life examples to emphasize this point. She states that people create avatars online to be represent their self the way they want to be. However, being able to change a certain aspect of an individual life alters the way they perceive who they are. According to Turkle “people who gain fluency in expressing multiples aspect of self may find it harder develop authentic selves. Some people who write narratives for their screen avatars may grow up with too little experience to share their real feelings with other people” (289). The meaning behind Turkle words is that technology is influencing how individuals view themselves, and become remapping the idea that humans are social

    Read More

  • Dual Personality in Mellix's From the Outside, In

    2137 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ever since the dawn of time, people have been communicating with others around them and with today’s technology people can interconnect with people across the globe. They have access to a wider range of peers and colleagues like no other time period and the possibilities continue to advance these communications. Yet as those in the world continue to make new friends and hear the opinions of more people they slowly develop a dual personality. Though people have always had parallel identities, one for family and friend, and another for acquaints and strangers, as Barbara Mellix points out in her essay. Mellix is a writer and educator who’s essay “From the Outside, In” tells how she grew up learning two identities so she could function in both her personal world with close family and friends, and her world that dealt with others. Now as the world of the others has expanded with the help of technology so has the use of the second identity and it has taken the form of the online identity. People’s second online identity is always on an aggressive defense, paranoid to the point of any wrong thing said or unsaid could lead to a fight, and they tend to only be happy when there is someone to attack. In the physical world where people are surrounded by true friends and people they trust with their emotions and they are more caring and sympathetic of others’ pain. However the online identity poses a threat to the personal identity as people begin to pull traits from one identity to the next. Although not having an online identity Mellix can relate to this with an experience that involved confusing her identities. Mellix describes how when her personalities become mixed, she was puzzled about who she was and who belonged in her personal iden...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Virtual Love By Meghan Daum

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daum writes, “Email provides a useful antidote for my particular communication anxieties. Though I generally send and receive only a few messages a week, I take comfort in their silence and boundaries” (Daum2).Through the internet, the narrator is able to express her ideal self and presents a false sense of herself which is misinterpreted by PFSlider. Particularly, the narrator states that, “I take comfort in their silence and boundaries”, which imply that the internet allows her to express herself without having to face the reality and anxieties of being face to face and not knowing what to talk about. The narrator 's ideal self conflicts with her real self because she puts more effort into creating an online persona which conflicts with the image of her real self that is filled with anxieties and loneliness. According to the narrator 's statement, she implies that through the computer was where her and PFSlider could confide intimately with each other without having to face the predicament of being in the real world and having to engage physically. Technology provided an outlet for them to be whoever they wanted to portray themselves as which allowed the narrator to view PFSlider with her desirable characteristics. In turn, this displays how technology complicates intimacy because the computer gave them an outlet to express themselves without having to deal with the reality of being able to talk in

    Read More

  • Anderson's Feed Analysis

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, what many internet users do not realize that the internet web evaluates one’s thoughts and bases the outcome information to where it satisfies the user’s need. As Anderson notes “everything we do is thrown in to a big calculation. Like they’re watching us right now” (97). For example, most social media websites have now adapted and dedicated major space of their website as a portion of advertisement which, in fact, it advertises for products based on individual interest and his/her pervious search. Furthermore, following social media trends and sharing our personal thoughts about specific topic on the internet are some of the aspects that the internet studies about our identities. Analyzing what we are experiencing on the internet as human being, we can conclude that world of technology throws everyone based on his personality to where he/she belongs and “these demographic studies that divide everyone up into a few personality types”

    Read More

  • Easy Access For Children on Pornography Sites

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace." Composing Cyberspace. Richard Holeton. United States: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 171-178. SafeSurf. Press Release.

    Read More

  • Do Video Games Promote Social Interactions?

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    The traditional way of socializing limits our ability to meet other people around the world. Virtual interactions offers a more possible means to communicate in today's society. Furthermore, the growth of the video game community such as in the genre of MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) allows for a high level medium that enable individuals to create small factions and perform social interactions. According to Bishop, "The existence of such communities is often brought about by people who share similar goals, beliefs or values, with such commonality forming the basis of an agreement to form and sustain a virtual existence" (1). Having shared similar goals...

    Read More

  • Cyberspace and Identity

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    .... She says online identity is textual based but technology has furthered itself to make it visual and textual based. Turkle also says that cyberspace is a relatively consequence-free moratorium yet it seems to me that there is nothing relative at all about it. It has many consequences. She states that online identity expands and affects real identity but I disagree. I believe that online identity can not affect real identity because they should be the same. No one should play around with online identities because when returning to reality, a person will have a false sense of security and self. The world has moved on from Freudian ideas to new social practices of identity as multiplicity.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Online Habits

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the internet, our characteristics such as style, identity, and values were primarily exposed by our materialistic properties which psychologists define as the extended self. But people’s inferences to the idea of online self vs. offline self insisted a translation to these signals into a personality profile. In today’s generation, many of our dear possessions have been demolished. Psychologist Russell W belk suggest that: “until we choose to call them forth, our information, communications, photos, videos, music, and more are now largely invisible and immaterial.” Yet in terms of psychology there is no difference between the meaning of our “online selves” and “offline selves. They both assist us in expressing important parts of our identity to others and provide the key elements of our online reputation. Numerous scientific research has emphasized the mobility of our analogue selves to the online world. The consistent themes to these studies is, even though the internet may have possibly created an escape from everyday life, it is in some ways impersonating

    Read More

  • The Dangers of Online Dating

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Individuals may feel isolated from society wether it be due to their sexuality, likes, or dislikes, and the virtual world is an area they do not feel like they have to conform to certain ...

    Read More

  • Social Networking: Online vs Offline Identities

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper aims to explore the different reasons behind people having different personas in Twitter and real-life through a look at how the social networking site provides a unique opportunity for self...

    Read More

  • The Internet Increases Social Isolation

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inside the majority of American households rest the unlimited territory of the internet. The unlimited and always advancing possibilities have unlocked powerful new tools in communication and socialization. Tools such as: long distance visual communication, international circulation of personal thoughts, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) have all led to a closer but more distant community of people. The positive side can attribute to the fact that the younger generation seems more in tune with their international counterparts. Youth have the ability to anonymously communicate with others through various message boards, mostly governed by one policy, freedom of speech. The anonymity of the internet has created a community where social outcasts mingle freely with others; a society where jocks can converse with geeks without fear of reprisal. This community releases people from the bounds of their own flesh. Yet, technological advances have pushed society into the next dimension of communication and socialization that seemingly override traditional and more personal vessels of communication.

    Read More

  • The Internet´s Impact in Our Lives

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    Days, months, and years go by and we do not notice them. Living in such a busy world, we are not always aware of the changes in our lives. Twenty years ago, if someone was told we would be able to buy groceries, pay our bills, buy stocks or even a car through the use of a computer, we might have laughed and blamed too much science fiction television for such wild accusations. However, as the next generation of children grows up, they may find it funny that people still send letters to each other through the post office. The development of the Internet has given us the ability to communicate and exchange information instantly across vast distances. The Internet has caused a huge impact in the communication field, and has made our way of living and working a lot easier, faster, and cheaper than before.

    Read More

  • how the internet has changed society

    1999 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Internet has changed the way people interact with each other and entertain themselves. It has changed the way business is done. It has also changed the way people date, commit crime, and interview for jobs, it has even changed health care, among many other things. Technology and the Internet are not going away and the need for people to adapt is prominent. Internet is so prominent in Management Information systems. There are Internet based information systems. These systems are important because they can improve company efficiency. These systems can house data with extreme efficiency. Internet based information systems leave the possibilities of efficiency unlimited. Technology is only going to expand farther and new ways to communicate digitally will be introduced into businesses. It has already altered the way we interact with one another, and consumers to suppliers.

    Read More

More about The Effects Of Cyberspace: Reflections And Transformations

Open Document