Monday 24 September 2012

Defining cyberspace


2-Does cyberspace possess the qualities of a real world space?

In a cyberspace environment, businesses have been built, relationships have formed and constant networks have been formed that has enabled connectivity throughout the world. Although cyberspace has had positively astronomical effects, it does lack in other areas. For example, the ability to physically feel textures like liquids, roughness and smoothness is lost and only the senses of sight and sound are used when accessing the cyberspace environment. On the other hand, cyberspace has enabled other factors, such as education, to flourish and become accessible to most people. Furthermore, the cyberspace environment enables one to access vast amounts of information at one's fingertips, however a disadvantage of the instantly accessible knowledge may not help the current situation of obesity. One factor that may suffer from online interactions is the quality of having good social skills and the ability to converse with others without the requirement of a computer to do so. In contradiction, the cyberspace environment has most definitely given people a voice that would not normally have the confidence to converse with others or may not have the ability to converse with others in speech. To summarise, although there may not be physical interactions like in the real world space, the cyberspace possesses more qualities than the real world does when concerning disabilities in speech or a lack in confidence.

3-Does the lack of regulatory control on the internet lead to a state of adaptive and productive independence or is it fostering expression of, perhaps latent toxic behaviours and danger?

When concerning internet access and the cyberspace environment, it is possible to create a false persona, whether it is positively or negatively used. Some people reap the benefits of having the ability to be someone different from themselves, or have multiple selves online, allowing them to gain confidence in their cyber-self. This is usually seen when concerning online relationships, or bullying, because in the real world people have to respond face-to-face, therefore meeting the consequences face-to-face as well, whereas online, consequences do not have to be faced until there is a real world collision with a specific person. An article by  Marie Hartwell-Walker (September, 2012) on PsychCentral.com illustrates that teen suicides caused by cyber-bullying are increasing because the internet is so accessible to so many people, thus facilitating connectivity and networking between a much wider audience than one would usually meet in the real world, therefore putting oneself in even more danger than normal due to being vulnerable to toxic behaviours that are increased by the ability to be anonymous or to be somebody different online.