I have been struggling to really narrow down my idea for the paper we are writing for Dean's Circle. However, the "God-Mobs" chapter has helped me a little bit. I am glad that, at least in some degree, our friend Rachel decided to move away from her various forms of explaining the different ways we may identify with the gaming and religious experience (because that stuff seriously keeps me up at night, it's obnoxiously torturous) and on to something a little different.
I would like to write something about the effects of having such easy access to an entire world of people that we can relate to and enjoy the same things we do. On the internet, with our mobile devices, we can take these people with us wherever we go. These people, hypothetically, are people that play similar games as we do, listen to similar music, debate similar religious or political ideologies and/or enjoy engaging in analyzing creative works submitted by other users.
It isn't difficult to see how easy it can seem to find a sort of belonging in a world that you are capable of creating, monitoring, and altering to fit your mood.
However, is this sense of belonging a real one? Can the hyper-connectivity available at your fingertips create a sense of alienation in people? If you are able to feel that creation and belonging in a virtual space, can there be a longing for it where it does not exist in "reality?"
These questions may relate to only a deviant sample of people, but I am so interested in that sample. Are there people that have a created sense of alienation because of the belonging they created in a virtual world.
That big idea was the one I initially wanted to focus on for my Dean's Circle paper--at least, I wanted to explore any previous research there might be on connectivity and alienation in regards to the internets.
However, in reading this God-Mobs (o_o) chapter, the other side of the coin I have been struggling with had raised its little head.
Imagine: Hyper-connectivity creating a MORE connected world!
This happens more when people merge their online belonging-ness to the outside world. Wagner mentions flash mobs and a giant demonstration launched in the Philipines, and other events organized by the use of virtual spaces. One of the more recent stories that I can think of, that I want to analyze, is the Libyan revolution. I remember, the first I heard about this enormous historical event was on Reddit. I man was posting pictures, stories and videos about what was happening just in his neighborhood. I saw it on the news shortly after, and then a giant Facebook campaign spread the news like wildfire (let's be honest, FB gets all of its good stuff from Reddit).
I suppose this is more a spreading-of-awareness then building a sense of belonging, but if a large majority of us become engaged and enraptured by something, and if we are able to connect with strangers because of this big event, then isn't that a strong case for how these virtual spaces can connect us? And not only connect us, but move us? Sometimes in the form of a revolution?
Sometimes just in Candy Crush.
I'm also interested in the ideas of connectedness and alienation surrounding internet use and social networks. As many people talk about the ways in which we are virtually connected to each other, I cannot help but think about the nagging fact that most of this connection is happening in isolation. We zone out of the world while we scroll through Facebook or Pinterest. Its almost impossible to be having a meaningful connection with a person sitting next to you while checking emails, FB stalking a friend, or searching for holiday craft ideas on your computer or phone. All of this "connectivity" seems to just make it easier to be physically distant from each other. Cars and phones and Skype have helped us through times when we must be away from each other, but maybe we have discovered that even when we are in the awkward, messy, social situations that real life brings, we'd rather connect through our devices. It's a filter that allows us to selectively engage with each other. We can choose to respond to our friends comments when WE are interested. The little delays in text based communication allow us to display only our wisest, most clever selves. And who doesn't pretend to text in an awkward situation? The internet gives us connection, but is it filtered? Are we Photoshopping our selves? I'm worried that the consequences of such filtered communication might mirror the consequences of using supermodels and Photoshop in media. We will begin to see our physical selves as somehow deficient, ugly, unequipped for real life. And so we will retreat to the virtual.
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ReplyDeleteI think I can speak a little to online-worlds being morphed with offline worlds at the risk of being judged....
ReplyDeleteI like this band that is not very popular, and it's really hard to find other people who also like them. (It's not ICP.) They're pretty active online and have some large fan communities through forums, twitter, facebook, and tumblr. I'm not totally immersed in all of it, but I do check out a forum sometimes, especially if I'm planning on going to a show or I know they have a new album coming out or something. Anyway, I really like to travel, and I travel alot to see this band (although not as much as people think I do.) I know one other girl I grew up who also likes this band, and we became friends in 3rd grade because we really liked this band and have remained friends to this day because we shared this through junior high, high school, and now "adulthood." But most of the people I know who like this band have come from the internet, although there are some I have met at events through friends and just being in the same place who are more "traditional" ways of meeting people. We all kind of operate in this way that we post online that we're going to a show and other people chime in that they're going too, and then we all work out hotel-shares/road trip buddies, etc, to split costs. Some of these people have become really, really good friends of mine, and some are just crazy and I have a good time with them anyway. I've met people from all over the country and world through this. In this way the internet has connected me with "real" people and connected me to people in places I would have never met because it takes the geography issue out of meeting people who share your interests.
Sometimes it's nice to spend a weekend with someone so far removed from your real life and only knows you in one context and you can just have a pressure-free good time and sing together and then be on your way. Sometimes you spend a weekend with some crazy Nebraskans and they end up being really good, genuine friends later on. I do think that these friendships from a forum post online have connected me to a larger community. I have no friends I only know from the internet and have never met in real life, so I can't speak to that, but that changes it a lot, I think. When you're actually taking the online off and meeting people I think that can become a more traditional friendship and it has no less value just because you didn't happen to have the same job as this person and meet there instead. I think the internet could bridge gaps if utilized correctly--but I think it can only become a tool to cure this feeling of alienation if it doesn't happen exclusively online and is more of a hybrid. If someone has friends that exclusively on the internet, I don't think it adds as much value to their lives. Because even if you feel connected in front of a computer screen, you are still alone. I can only imagine that depression this could maybe lead to....
(This is also something I've been thinking about every class session this semester. How the internet is a tool in which one can meet people and engage with the world, but how it doesn't actually influence lives until the online goes offline and becomes tangible....)