Sociology Links
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The Influence of Cyberspace, Society, and the Internet
The internet is fresh and new in our society and computers have proliferated our culture only recently. The academic world has been at the forefront of the technological advances of the internet but as it stands, computer continue to affect the lives of people in ways never previously imagined. As the industry of computers has brought about the computer in rapid advance, so has the interface of human to machine advanced. "Cyberspace" has been magically conjured into an existence of abstract that has made some remarkable impact on people through on-line experiences. It is an abstraction that has brought about a meeting of the minds and a new type of social experience. It is the social experience on computers that is really new and the true phenomena. The cultural rituals and communication patterns that people have created for the on-line experience parallel much of the experience in our regular lives. Because the computer is a tool for communication, it becomes a phenomena when people use the computer for something other than communication. People are experiencing perceptions of friendship, happiness, love, anger, sadness, empathy, sex, companionship, excitement, and so on. In the past, we have communicated for specific reasons such as in our economic base or to secure appointments and verify information. The computer however, has changed the context for which we use a communication tool; the internet computer is being used as a way to meet people, establish relationships, and experience a social life. The telephone has always came close to this in that it has maintained or helped to facilitate existing relationships. The difference between telephone and cyberspace is that access by calling parties through the computer is simultaneous and anonymous. The internet allows us to do more than maintenance relationships; we can explore and initiate them as well. It would be awkward to look through the phone book and call people on the telephone at random and ask them if they would like to be your friend. The internet allows people to do this. Another issue that has been introduced is the phenomena associated with the culture of cyberspace -- specifically, "emoticons." Emoticons are symbols that indicate abstract feelings and emotions through lexicographic communication. Symbolic interactionism looks at symbols and signs as perceptions, which is in line with what people seem to be doing on the computer. Emoticons are being used to compensate for the limitations of not being able to see individual users on the computer screen. People are operating with emoticons, possibly to build models of trust and expression in their personality to put other users at ease. The emoticons are among the most important facits of internet culture because it is the basis for which many users can be identified as novice or experienced. The demographics of people involved in the cyberspace phenomena covers a geographical area as large as the planet. Literally, anyone on the surface of Earth with access to a telephone line and a computer can log on to the internet and begin their cyberspace experience. People who are predisposed to cyber culture may follow a certain personality type or not, but there seems to be indicators that only certain people will ever make to cyberspace and that among those people there are interests and similarities that are not apparent by just looking at them. Then anonymity of the computer user through a screen name facilitates the extraordinary nature of cyberspace and the relationships it involves. You may never know that your boss is the internet user whose screen name you have been confiding your most darkest secrets of your past, but at the same time, the person next door may be telling you about their plans to move out of state, without even knowing who you are. Juxtopposed is the dysfunction that it may cause in normal life or maybe the introversion from life off-line that is associated with constant internet dependence that is not anonymous. Others who not online may find it difficult to deal with the differences in social perception that people who are online experience. In short, people off-line may have a lower tolerance for people who are on-line users and that could be incompatible with societal demands. Method Students at CSUB and Bakersfield College are expected to participate in the data collection. Both males and females will be included. A survey will be used to gather the data. The survey is divided into four sections: access, social interaction, internet culture, and demographics. The access section is designed to include items to determine internet access if any, and set up the appropriate data record of different kinds of internet access. The social interaction section deals particularly with items that will reflect the relationships people have or perceive on the internet. The internet culture section uses questions that examine the way people use the internet to project themselves and to determine what normative behavior is expected of them. The final section is of course, demographics which includes useful independent variables for analysis. Items on the survey are numbered 1 to 56 for coding purposes. The survey is designed to gather data in a non-intrusive manner. Surveys are entirely anonymous and strictly confidential. |
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