Erik Erikson saw development as moving though as series of interdependent stages. Each stage has a “developmental crisis,” which involves a positive alternative and potentially unhealthy alternative. In adolescence, the central issue is one of identity, as the “developmental crisis” is ego-identity vs. role confusion. His idea of moratorium, or a “time out” as Turkle puts it, is like putting a hold on your life for a little while.
Just like what was explored in PBS’s Frontline report, Growing Up Online, teens would be able to experience this moratorium by exploring a different life online—whether by making a different persona for themselves on MySpace, creating an avatar with another kind of life, or just playing online games. Research has found that adolescents make use of media to learn about two important aspects of identity development—sex and gender. Obviously, exploring topics online seems to be a much safer and anonymous route than using other resources or asking people.
Some might find their time online as a time of exploration and escape, like Erikson’s moratorium, while some others see that as their real self they don’t dare or allow themselves to be in their “offline” life. They might be more comfortable online than in real life. One of the girls on the show said that she was only real when she was online, and when she was not online, she had to put on a fake happy persona. The online environment allows people to write or rewrite themselves with words, images, and media to represent and make meaning of themselves. In Growing Up Online, one of the teens talks about getting online and baring your soul whenever you want. Someone is always listening, which isn’t always the case in real life.
On the flip side, teens can be much crueler online as well. If you can wear any mask you like, it can be one of someone mean and hateful. The anonymity can make the cyberbully bolder, and increase the fear of the one being bullied. Kids feel the freedom to say things they would never actually say in real life to another kid, but since it’s all online, it doesn’t seem real, even though to the kid being bullied, it is real.
So, while the idea of teens experiencing identity crises or escaping from reality isn’t new, the internet can drastically change and increase the options available. The father of Ryan, boy who committed suicide, thoughtfully stated that the internet did not make his son commit suicide, but it magnified and amplified the natural human impulses that teens have.
Turkle, Sherry "How Computers Change the Way We Think," Chronicle of Higher Education (January 30, 2004).)
3 comments:
I was struck by how powerful cyberbullying can be because you can't erase it. Kids can go back and reread hurtful comments and I believe they become much more magnified than those that are said to a person. Becky, I believe you addressed this in a post in Moodle. Writing makes our comments permanent. A child who is vulnerable to begin with will really feel the impact of bullying online. Not only are those comments there to be reread, they may be public for others to read as well.
I think the strangest thing about violence and bullying online is how hard it is for some people to understand how real the effects can be for others.
A while back I read this article by Julian Dibbell, first published in The Village Voice in 1993: A Rape in Cyberspace (Or TINYSOCIETY, and How to Make One) The article is now part of a book that investigates how early "virtual worlds" were created and the effects of participating in them. The author heard about the "virtual crime" after the fact and started to investigate, talking to victims and the perpetrator to try to understand how this all played out. (note: it's a long article)
Just this weekend my sister was horrified when a friend of my brothers described a video where a group of online role-playing gamers staged a "virtual funeral" for a friend and were attacked in the middle of their ceremony by another group of gamers. You can see a wide range of reactions if you read through the comments underneath the video.
What do you think? Was this a horribly insensitive act of violence or a funny prank? Whose emotions matter? If it's in a virtual world, does that make a difference? I've read that this funeral was for the character and not the person playing the character. How much of a difference does that make in your response?
Note: Both of these are settings mostly involving adults, as far as I can tell.
Becky's post also made me think about experimentation and different identities. This is a "throwaway" example, but I think it's funny and interesting to consider.
My brother plays an online multiplayer game called "City of Heroes," where each player can create their own superheroes - designing appearance, adding powers, writing backstories, etc. His characters are about 50/50 male & female, and it's funny to watch how he responds when people start "hitting on" his heroines - it kind of freaks him out. You can often tell when a "female" character is actually a male player because they'll look really skanky - Lara Croft style and much worse. Adam's females look like interesting characters and are generally clothed, so other players assume he's female (unless they happen to be playing on a team and using voice chat, which makes it all very clear).
There are boundaries that can be transversed in these environments that people would never experiment with in the real world. How will that change the ways people think about themselves and others, when they can begin to see how someone else might be treated? I think there are actually opportunities for empathy as well as bullying in the anonymity of these places.
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