INTERNET AND SOCIETY

Internet and Society

Internet and Society

Introduction

Like it or not, the internet is here to stay and along with it, digital communities. Digital communities are online communities formed in cyberspace that are fairly similar to the communities we have in real life with respect to their formation, but vastly different in characteristics and outcomes. Naturally, the formation of digital communities result in identity production just as it does with the formation of real life communities. The two articles talk about identity production in these digital communities and how it is “captivating the globe” (Alternate Universe by Jessica Bennett and Malcolm Beith) (Slevin 2000 94). Alternate Universe by Jessica Bennett and Malcolm Beith talks about how an online medium is used to simulate real life to the point of threatening to replace it due to the advantages it offers over real life.

Discussion

Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace by Danah Boyd too provides reasons to why people, teenagers in particular, are being drawn towards creating identities via digital communities as opposed to creating them in real life. Both articles show that the unrestricted nature of digital communities, combined with the convenience and variety of social tools it offers, is slowly pervading society as a very attractive medium of which to create identities. Why is this so? It is due to the nature of identity being a personal choice rather than one that is imposed upon an individual by societal norms through parents, work and even peers. Therefore, the act of forming preferred identities would need an unrestricted, omnipotent and ever-present medium. Given the openness, empowerment and accessibility digital communities offers, it would be a general consensus that creating identities online would be a far more satisfying experience than actually doing so in real life. Given that this trend continues, it may very well be an end to actually bothering to suffer society and “go through life's struggles” (Witt Baker and Merritt 2004 12-56). Why bother to walk when one can take transport? This results in the current situation. Digital communities are rapidly removing “virtual” out of “virtual reality” as it is expedient in identity production as compared to non-digital communities.

Due to the lack of freedom in society, be it self-imposed or otherwise, the openness of digital communities is an extremely tempting draw factor. When an animal is cornered, it either has to fight back or find an alternate escape route, and since “fighting back” in society is generally frowned upon, human innovation has found an “escape route”. The open and unrestrictive nature of the internet is prime breeding ground for people who are trying to forge identities but are held back by societal rules or even biological constraints. It enables them to break free from bonds that try to hammer out their identities and instead, enable them to shape one of their own. Discrimination towards the disabled, a form social restriction, can be a major obstacle to the formation of one's identity, but digital communities have proven ...