Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
- 1 THE INTERNET IN A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT
- 2 YOUR ONLINE PERSONA: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF IMPRESSION FORMATION
- 3 ONLINE MASKS AND MASQUERADES
- 4 GROUP DYNAMICS IN CYBERSPACE
- 5 INTERGROUP CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
- 6 FLAMING AND FIGHTING: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSION ON THE NET
- 7 LIKING AND LOVING ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
- 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- 9 THE INTERNET AS A TIME SINK
- 10 ALTRUISM ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HELPING
- 11 GENDER ISSUES ON THE NET
- 12 NURTURING LIFE ON THE INTERNET
- Index
12 - NURTURING LIFE ON THE INTERNET
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
- 1 THE INTERNET IN A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT
- 2 YOUR ONLINE PERSONA: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF IMPRESSION FORMATION
- 3 ONLINE MASKS AND MASQUERADES
- 4 GROUP DYNAMICS IN CYBERSPACE
- 5 INTERGROUP CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
- 6 FLAMING AND FIGHTING: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSION ON THE NET
- 7 LIKING AND LOVING ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
- 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
- 9 THE INTERNET AS A TIME SINK
- 10 ALTRUISM ON THE NET: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HELPING
- 11 GENDER ISSUES ON THE NET
- 12 NURTURING LIFE ON THE INTERNET
- Index
Summary
The net is so vast and is growing so rapidly that each person's experience with it can only be a tiny sample of the whole. This is one reason it is so enchanting: you just never know what you will find when you click the mouse and explore a new location. It may also contribute to the diversity of opinions about the net's value in our lives and to society in general. Each of us partakes of different Internet niches, and our experiences can leave us with markedly different views.
Some early net pioneers, like the astronomer turned hacker-tracker Clifford Stoll, finds little worthwhile in the Internet's virtual life. In Silicon Snake Oil, Stoll writes:
It's an unreal universe, a soluble tissue of nothingness. While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where – in the holy names of Education and Progress – important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued.
Stoll's sample of Internet activity is probably larger than most, and I have some sympathy with his point – especially because certain features of the Internet have some alarming psychological effects. As I mentioned, some research suggests greater Internet use is associated with increased loneliness, and the net does take away time from other kinds of social activity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Psychology of the Internet , pp. 233 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999