subject: What Can We Learn From Cyberspace? [print this page] What Can We Learn From Cyberspace? What Can We Learn From Cyberspace?
It can seem terrifying, lonely and sad, and regarded in many other ways, mostly negatively, but we do have to admit as humans that our relationships with others via digital technology is rather bizarre. Perhaps we are just not used to it; but cyberspace has certainly offered us a whole new way to interact with one another.
In defense of chat rooms, there are otherwise shy people who are enabled with the power to make friends and engage in interactions with people they wouldn't otherwise have a relationship with. More 'normal' perhaps are the majority of us who like being online and have built acquaintances with people we have never met but who share our interests. Such groups, through voice chat programs, are getting 'chattier' all the time. The caveat though (if you are 'normal') is that while you may enjoy your online pals, you can't really regard them as close friends. And in a sense this is nothing new: birds of a feather have always kept in touch and shared mutual affection through correspondence. But if your online relationships go deeper than that- for some way deeper- don't worry, you are not really weird at all. In fact you are a member of a vanguard generation that is going to change entirely our friendships and relationships in the future.
Chat corners can come in every color and variety, from the sadistic and macabre psychopaths to poets aspiring to weaves tales of beauty and song solely for the benefit of their own cozy group. A couple of things are notable. In chat situations, rather than getting out of hand, it seems people are actually treated more generously than they might be in the real world. And as for those whose predilections may run into the frightful and disturbing, it is comforting to know that these people, though they may have serious emotional troubles, rarely act in real life like the characters they portray in their dungeon rooms. Chat rooms offer us a chance for role play, fantasy, and drama. I believe that in the future it's going to be wild ride for those who want it. And for the more mainstream of us, distance is going to matter less and less in relation to friendships.
