This week in my electronic communications class we watched an episode of “True Life: I Live another Life on the Web”. It was about three girls who have completely different lives online than they do in the “real” world. One girl name Keiko is an avid “Second Life” participant, which is 3D virtual world of occupying residents. She’s an aspiring singer-songwriter and is very popular in her virtual world as a rock star but can not find the nerve release her music to the real world because of stage fright. Another girl Judy has a social anxiety disorder; can’t stand to be large crowds because she feels as if all eyes are on her. So to compensate for inability to socially communicate she has created her own personal website, which shall I say is a bit risqué. She takes naked photos in order to receive positive feedback from men that she does not receive in person. She’s so involved in her website that she has a guy paying her rent, which there is no word to describe how I feel about that. Lastly, there was a girl name Maleri. She also did questionable things on the internet that she would never do in person. She did sexual favors such as showing…and I quote “Goods” to different men as a way to heighten her self-esteem.
So what do all these women have in common? They all have such a dependence on the internet for their self-esteem. Their lack of confidence in themselves shows by the extent they go to get the missing elements: attention satisfaction, acceptance, and approval. This relates right back to the “Virtual Community” article as to why people only communicate online, and why they join online communities. People join online communities to find others with the same common interest, which relates to Keiko’s situation. People also join because they need that sense of belonging and acceptance as in Maleri and Judy’s case.
It’s seems to be that the virtual world is beginning to offer more for people than the real world. People are taking expressing themselves in manners that do not really portray who they really are. I believe this could be a negative in the future because no one can hide behind a computer for the rest of their live it’s going to take effort to move into the real world and leave behind the virtual life.
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1 comment:
Candace,
I loved your blog and I completely agree with what you are saying. I mean, in a way, it is nice for people to be able to escape and have someone to talk to, but I also think that these are going to have negative effects. No one can hide behind a computer for the rest of their lives, and with so much technology development, it just makes you wonder if the challenge will end up being the face to face interaction.
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