Content uploaded by John Suler
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by John Suler on May 12, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
The Psychology of Cyberspace
by Storm A. King
November, 1994
"there is no there there" -- Gloria Stienman.
Cyberspace
The space between our terminals? Or a place in our minds? Definitions for (and
debates about these definitions) of virtuality, cybermind, or virtual anything abound
and conflict and occasionally coalesce. Through cyberspace. What was once strictly
the domain of computer nerds and hackers or scientist and researchers is now
increasingly occupied by middle class America. The field of the study of computer
mediated communications started as research in to how people connected by
computes could become more productive and increase profitability by cooperation.
Now, it is shifting to look at the sociological implications of a new phase in the
information revolution. A phase that has millions of ordinary citizens of the world
reaching out to touch someone, keyboard to keyboard. Interpersonal interactivity, on
a scale un-imagined only a few short years ago. Information is no longer constrained
by the traditional mass media. This new "from many to many" paradigm of
information exchange has permanently supplemented our reliance on a few
centralized organizations to assemble, edit and disseminate to us information about
others actions and ideas.
"No man is an island" Aldous Huxley
"He is a peninsula" The Jefferson Airplane
Psychology
What we think and how we act and the relationships between the two. Our thoughts
influence our behavior, our behavior influences our thoughts. Either way, the
opportunity to know what other individuals are thinking, and to share ones own
thoughts far and wide, has never been at a higher level. The implications are
astounding. Just how this new interconnectivity, where geographic constraints are
abolished, will influence individual and social behavior is unclear, but we know it will.
The signs are everywhere. Each day brings new stories about the transformational
power of cyberspace participation. Minority groups have become empowered, social
movements have organized, and some third world countries have leapfrogged over
decades to connect indigenous peoples through telecommunities. The ability to
influence other peoples actions, based on their having read ideas broadcast world
wide by individuals with access and motive, is a new, dramatic addition to the
psychology of social change.
"God does not play at dice with the Universe" Albert Einstein
"He plays cards with it, and our connections to each other are about to be shuffled"
me
The social psychology of cyberspaces
I pay attention to you, you pay attention to me, and a social relationship forms.
Cybernauts have only each others ideas to pay attention to, words on a screen,
devoid of tone and inflection. Most cyberspaces start by a surrounding of an idea by
people that want to discuss it. Yet our need for affiliation transcends the intellectual
nature of the medium, and emotional connections are made. In fact, people fall in
love, and fight, faster when not inhibited by possible local repercussions. The
imagination fills in what the senses do not report. The meeting, the social space, is
of one mind to another. The medium is the written word. Both are being transformed
in the process. Much to the chagrin of many in power today, the anarchy of the
Internet is establishing new precedents for the importance of taking individual
responsibility for harmonious social relationships, rather than assuming order will be
imposed by an external authority.
"I think, therefore I am" Descartes
"I am he as you are me as we are all together" The Beatles
Multiple identities, multiple cyberspaces
Public typing, like public speaking, is not every one's cup of tea. Levels of
involvement in cyberspaces varies according to the individuals inclination for
immersion and interactivity. Many choose a read only mode, content to examine the
thoughts of others and reflect on them in silence. Others contribute no matter what,
or self disclose all over the place. Regardless of this choice, very few are single list,
single space participants. It could be real time chat, bullitine boards, email lists or all
three, but the role one plays is subtly different in each new forum. Expertise on the
stated subject can be a commodity exchanged for recognition in one cyberspace.
Questions posed to experts in another space gain new knowledge, for the same
individual. Just as our behavior is different in real life when in church, at school, or
spending an evening in a jazz bar, so to does the level of and content of discourse
vary across cyberspaces. The difference is the range possible and the juxtaposition in
time of roles played. From one minute to the next, one can redefine ones self
according to the community standards of that cyberspace. One can be associating
with the highest highbrow intellectual discussion of theories of philosophy, and then,
with a few key strokes, change to being an active member of a truckers for peace
social movement.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
"Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic." Arthur C.
Clarke
The psychology of what is coming
In the near future, I will get up in the morning and my trusty intelligent agent will
inform me to dress warm, cause it will rain today, and not to take I-5 to work
because it is backed up. I will probably tell it thank you. Future generations will not
need to know what kind of gopher searches or web worms were used to acquire
information, they can just ask Bob to go get it. The boundaries between what is
private and what is public knowledge are becoming blurred. As more and more
people discover the power of being connected to their peers, no matter how esoteric
their interests, they increasingly start to look for social contact and information first
from cyberspace, and secondarily from other means. Just getting by in today's world
means making many informed decisions. Tomorrow's world will be even worse.
Assistance from artificial intelligence is on it's way. There will be a shift in the way
people perceive their interaction with each other, and with the machines that allow
that interaction. The information here flows horizontally, and power, status and even
self esteem can be derived from new and different sources. How to win friends and
influence people in cyberspace is dependent on knowing the differences involved
between the new order and the old. Many more social interactions are possible, for
there is a reversal of a fundamental social norm that occurs. Talking to strangers on
the street can be problematic. Talking to strangers in cyberspace is not only
encouraged, it is highly rewarding and very much reinforced. The downsides must be
understood as well. Social interactions in cyberspaces are fraught with
misunderstandings and are often much more brief that those in real life. Future
generations will grow up used to such alternative environments where such different
rules apply, and will thrive on the mixing of cyber and real life interactions.
The ideas in this essay were influence by ones I found floating around cyberspace,
most notably those of Howard Rheingold, John Coate, and Jay Weston
