Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Impact of Virtuality
it's undoubtedly amazing of all the interesting facts that I learned in the article "Virtuality and it's Discontents". Sherry Turkle gives insights on the important consequences, some being positive and negative, that virtuality offers. The first point that actually struck is the extent to which people utilize this online phenomena. It creates a community that contributes to the content of these suscribers social life. For instance, Turkle discusses the different ranges of conversations involved within a specific realm of an online community called MUD.
There are however flipsides in being apart of this online community. Yes, it may create a second life for many, but are the experiences real? A prime example is given when Turkle discusses a teenager exploring the adventures of a Colorado river. If this teenager explores a virtual rafting on the river and there are obstacles that needs to be overcome, how is the online adventure going to prepare her for the real world and the obstacles she has to overcome in real life? Turkle emphasizes
There are however flipsides in being apart of this online community. Yes, it may create a second life for many, but are the experiences real? A prime example is given when Turkle discusses a teenager exploring the adventures of a Colorado river. If this teenager explores a virtual rafting on the river and there are obstacles that needs to be overcome, how is the online adventure going to prepare her for the real world and the obstacles she has to overcome in real life? Turkle emphasizes
"Clicking a mouse brings up pictures and descriptions of local flora and fauna. She can have all the maps and literary references she wants. All this night be fun, perhaps useful. But in its uniformity and lack of risk, it is hard to imagine its marking a transition to adulthood."
In the aforementioned paragraph, i said that this kind of online community creates a second life. I infer from this because Turkle mentions that college students who may be less fortunate tend to seek a peer group on MUD that belong to the middle class. This ultimately provide influences from their middle class peers online but does not help them face the real world or stand up for themselves. "These young people feel they have no political voice, and they look to cyberspace to help them find one" (Turkle, p.4).
Comparatively, virtuality creates a fantasy for many young people. We may look at the virtual game called the SIMS as an example which the player chooses a character and chooses a fantasy lifestyle that he or she would want to live. Virtuality's influence spans from a community that engages in useful conversations to potentially charging one's lifestyle. However, it's flipside provides the insecurities and creates this second life that lures you into fantasy.
Comparatively, virtuality creates a fantasy for many young people. We may look at the virtual game called the SIMS as an example which the player chooses a character and chooses a fantasy lifestyle that he or she would want to live. Virtuality's influence spans from a community that engages in useful conversations to potentially charging one's lifestyle. However, it's flipside provides the insecurities and creates this second life that lures you into fantasy.
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This seems very much like a video game, well back then im sure it was much more because we are spoiled today with the great graphics of x-box and PS3 and we don't tend to think of it as Virtuality anymore, we just think of it as a game. The idea that a person could have a second life and potentially "Learn" new things through the use of virtuality is novel and we may dismiss it as a kid who has no friends or anyone real to play with, but remember this...airline pilots as well as men and women in the armed forces train on virtual simulators all the time. So very important things such as flying a plane can be learned, although not fully, through a virtual simulation. But real world experience is still key.
Here is a CNN link about the U.S. Army going high tech with virtual simulators.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/11/22/war.games/index.html
Here is a CNN link about the U.S. Army going high tech with virtual simulators.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/11/22/war.games/index.html
A great post and a great comment from Mr. Colgan.
Turkle raises a common anxiety of the older generation. What happens to a younger genertation that comes of age in a simulated world rather than the physical interaction of meatspace?
Puttng aside the questions of sex and violence online, Are these simulations, these virtual realities and communities replacing the real world of experience? What happens if youngsters decide they prefer the pleasures of a virtual social life?
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Turkle raises a common anxiety of the older generation. What happens to a younger genertation that comes of age in a simulated world rather than the physical interaction of meatspace?
Puttng aside the questions of sex and violence online, Are these simulations, these virtual realities and communities replacing the real world of experience? What happens if youngsters decide they prefer the pleasures of a virtual social life?
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