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 | HUMAN IDENTITY IN CYBERSPACE
March 25, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
How have computers affected education and learning? Is the personality used in computer interaction a second self? How can the Internet help Seniors combat boredom and relate to other generations? Will electronic communication lead to a resurgence in writing skills? How will the Internet and technology advances affect the children of today psychologically? Will the have vs. havenot dilemma become the passionate vs. the totally uninterested? psychologically?
NewsHour Links
The Cyberyear in Review
A chess match pits man against machine
Will computers ever think like humans?
The pros and cons of computers in schools
OUTSIDE LINKS
Biography and Curriculum vitae for Sherry Turkle
Additional questions and comments
Michael O Johnston of San Diego, CA
Does Cyberspace warp time and space? My experiences with UseNet and E-Mail leave me with a feeling that both time and space (is that redundant?) are warped by the Internet. Where a user is, is of no consequence. More importantly, this place-neutral identity tends to nullify the bias inherent in connection of a messenger with a foreign place.
John Bierschenk of Temple TX
Everybody wants world peace, but they don't want to go through all the stuff to get there. In the case of global mass-diaster, how do you see the benefits/drawbacks in communication efficiency with a world hooked on cyber-reality?
Also, is it possible that we might eventually see a world police state governing the use of the net and monitoring our lives?
Dale Misenhelter of Tuscaloosa, AL
Perhaps one perspective is offered by our silly need to refer to "connected" computer time as "virtual" reality ... we would not likely describe a banker working on a spreadsheet as such, even though s/he may be on a network. Hence the term "virtual harassment" is rather objectionable, in that it implies that time online is less real somehow. Time spent staring into these screens is as real (or not), and as valuable (or not) as individuals choose to make it.
This morning at 4am I got my wife out of bed much earlier than usual to drive into the countryside to view the Hale-Bopp comet (glorious!) which I HAD READ ABOUT ON ONE OF THE MANY WWW SITES available to millions of us with connections to the Internet. We not only saw the comet and on the opposite side of the pre-dawn sky a huge, peach-colored full moon sinking below the horizon, but we listened to roosters, and felt the cold wind in our faces... an experience filled with many of the sensations Prof Turkle indicates will be absent from the "new world" of computer-folk.
On the other hand, I do have a good friend who used to golf often and well, but in the last few years has not stepped on a golf-course, choosing instead to "golf" on-screen via one of the many game programs available for multimedia machines. Not coincidentally, in that time he has also gained at least 50 pounds... computers will offer us what they can, but people will only take want they want, generally at a minimum of effort and/or risk.
Rick Monroe of Manchester, MD
Computers affect a great majority of the world's population only indirectly. Very few of the world's population have anything remotely resembling a PC sitting on their home desk. One of the things that bothers me about the "computer revolution" is the complete isolation of the computer literate community to that fact. We are all too much like the futurists of the early years of this century who left us with grandiose pictures of the future of technology. Certainly the world has changed since 1919 when my step-father was born, but even with the change in communication technology since then, people of that era as well as us have the same dreams and aspirations. Technology changes the surface, the "magic," not the human spirit.
Helen of Virginia Beach, Va
I make hand-made lace, bobbin and needle, several different kinds of each. I have found the most wonderful community of lacemakers I can get information from any time I want to type a short note asking for it. We "govern" ourselves, making sure no one gets flamed, and everyone acts like ladies and gentlemen. There are going to be clods in every group you form, but it is up to every person to find the group you are comfortable with. I belong to an Internet organization here in Virginia Beach, and we try to let everyone enjoy what we do.
I have never been sent pornographic material, nor do I go looking for it. It is there to be found, surely, but I see no need for it myself. My grandchildren are supervised at home to prevent their coming into contact with something abhorrent to them, or too much for them to handle. I think the Internet is wonderful, but I would never spend all my time on it. It is like having the world at your fingertips to explore the way you want, at your own time, in millions of interesting way. I am not very articulate, but I am very proud of being on the Net. I feel more confident personally, am very proud of the way my community has responded to getting aboard and showing their home pages.
I also use my computer to keep up with my children. My son is in Texas, my daughter in North Carolina. We e-mail constantly. It is such a joy to get a reply, but such a burden for me to sit down and "write" a snail mail letter. The words just sort of flow when I type, but it is hard for me to pen them in. The Internet has done nothing but enrich my life. Sorry to take up so much of your space, but the article was very interesting for me, and I really wanted to reply.
Alan of Virginia Beach, VA
Hi there. I'm a graduate student at Old Dominion University, and recently I did an experiment in a chat room. We read a chapter about women logging on to MOOs and getting harassed by men seeking sexual favors. I was intrigued by the fact that they don't seem to care if the other person is really female, and that they take that for granted with the name that they are given.
So I logged in as a female, and sure enough it happened. I was bombarded with queries about my age, my weight, and my measurements. Since I am male, I had to make up my answers, and the funny thing is that they believed me. One guy even sent me a picture of himself!
I think that this is an interesting experiment for men to try, because it gives you a look at what women have to go through. More than a few eyebrows were raised at this experiment, and I'm sure some of the guys in the room (who were noticeably quiet about the whole thing) might have misunderstood the whole thing. I think it's interesting to see what the other side goes through, and it gives us a lot to think about concerning the way that we treat others in real life as well as in cyberspace.
Anne Tanner of Coralville, Iowa
To me, online communication is a miracle that renews itself every day. I have good friends online whom I've never met, and I have no idea what their physical selves look like or what social categories they fit into.
Nonetheless, and perhaps because of this, we have reached a depth of understanding that surpasses many relationships conducted face to face—always mediated by one's perception of these external factors. I wouldn't recognize these friends on the street, but I know their minds and hearts.
My favorite is a group, Women in Ministry Online. It's like having an enormous, international support group say hello to me every morning, give me feedback on my projects, and share in my joys. I learn how different perspectives are in South Africa or New Zealand, and they know more of Iowa than they probably ever expected to learn! It is really wonderful.
Mella Leibrand of Chesapeake, Virginia
When I first began to comprehend the immensity and diversity of the Internet, I was overwhelmed. Here was a brand new world, where I was free to be anyone I wanted to be, finally free to express all of the parts of me that cannot manifest themselves freely IRL. I was giddy!
It seems, however, that I was free to be anyone I chose except myself as a female on a chatline. Because of sexual harassment online, others advised me to sign on as neuter or as a male. I love play-acting and role-reversals, but I surprised myself by signing on-as myself, a middle-aged Earth mother-type female. I had fifteen minutes of pleasant chat before a harasser arrived.
It was like a virtual Citadel after his arrival. Other people in the chatroom assured him that I was a male (not true, and they knew it, too) in order to get some peace. If it was virtual sex he wanted, there are chatrooms for that with willing females. I conclude that his aim was to chase me off the net. I am free to be anyone but myself without harassment, so how am I free?
I can only get peace if I deny my own femininity by pretending to be something I'm not, by "passing" as male or hiding behind a neutral mask.
Well, I might sign on as a male when I feel like it, but not out of fear. I am resolved to be a female presence in a chatroom periodically just out of spite to people like my harasser. I refuse to hide or vanish. If they want to fight with me, let them.
Stephen Kellogg of Alta Loma, CA
It seems computers and their reach into cyberspace have put a premium on rapid communication and instantaneous turn-around times. Typewriters worked far slower than the brain. Now, the speed of the brain is being pushed to its limits.
Slower technologies allowed time for rumination and reflection. Wasn't civilization made possible by time to think? What are we to do now?
Ken W. Graham of Napa, CA
I use a fairly high end POWERMAC with a lot of RAM and hard drive to develop digital media content.
The question is however, will developing this type of medium and dispelling it over the Internet make us less apt to work together in what I refer to as REAL TIME.
On several projects, I have worked entirely from my home and spent time developing content for a commercial without ever having to physically see the client. The entire process was developed over e-mail.
Does this and will this create, as cyber industry continues to propagate to cottage industry, a dysfunction or inability to work and be perceived as real people. I like computers but I don't want them to replace real time interaction. Is this a concern with others as well who are developing content without real time client meetings.
LouAnn Kirk of Everett, WA
I got my first computer 3 years ago. I am a stay at home mother with 2 young children. The computer, via an AOL at home mothers bb actually provided an outlet for me. Rather than feeling isolated at home caring for my children, I was able to interact with other mothers going through the same experiences as me. The computer has given me a chance to vent my anger, despair and to share my joy. The other women on the "board" have shared the same with me.
As time has gone on, the relationships have somewhat changed. We have moved from an open bulletin board setup to an enclose e-mail loop. But, nearly 3 years later, I am still corresponding with the same group of mothers. We have been through childbirth, miscarriage, death and divorce together. I truly consider this group of women my friends.
R. Bianchino of Las Vegas, NV
I agree regarding your observation that time at the computer is "time spent indoors alone and isolated." But on the positive side we have formed, as you said, "new and vibrant communities."
My question is, can this community successfully find ways of interacting within and without this isolation? I have the feeling that after a strong computer connection is made with an individual, it would make progression to some type of physical realty easier. Time invested on the Internet would be invaluable.
Maury Brown of Portland, OR.
On the whole, the Internet has been the most valuable tool for myself, my career, and for self-education. It has allowed me to teach myself the languages for communicating via the Internet.
I've found this to be a double-edged sword. As my interest in writing Web pages has increased through resources online, it seems that the biggest threat to users is the great E-Mail security hole.
E-Mail has little, or no security. People can mail anything to anybody anonymously. This appears to be a way for certain maladjusted people to create a type of Cyber-Terrorism. While Web pages may involve the Lunatic Fringe, they are visited by the user. E-Mail can come to you in any guise. So as with any all encompassing forum the Internet has improved my life greatly, while I'm sure that it does the opposite for others.
Frederick H. Bartlett of Mercerville, New Jersey
Oh, please!
In the late fifteenth century, various thinkers (mostly clerics) worried about the effect these new-fangled "books" would have on the human spirit. After all, what could be more human than memorizing large quantities of material?
Half a millenium later, we are hard-pressed to see any change in the human spirit ... and certainly not one due to books, which are, after all, a product of that same human spirit.
The same is true of computers and cyberspace. Like books, they serve as tools to amplify the human mind, not to change it.
Chris Heiden of Houghton and Michigan
I represent a group of students from Michigan Technological University. We are writing a research paper for a course dealing with computer education in high schools.
My question is why is there such a lack of a developed computer education system in high schools today? Could the two factors of lack of funding or money and too much bureaucracy or politics involved in the development of such programs?
Kelley Hoolihan of San Dimas, California
I am a public high school teacher of World History and I use the computer as a way to engage my students in learning without them realizing it. I have my own computer and use the Internet to research information which is updated constantly unlike a book that is written, edited, then published and the data could be months old by the time a book is finally published.
I also keep in touch with old friends via e-mail. It is easier for me to jot a quick e-mail message and press "send" without finding an envelope and stamp to convey my thoughts. I find that that the computer and CD-ROM technology has opened new ways to engage my students who would otherwise not be interested in being in a traditional classroom.
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