Internet and Society

Shaneil Drummond

Indian River State College

PSY 2012

Professor Greene

March 21, 2010

1,020 Words

Abstract

This essay will explain the usage of the internet and how society deals with it. The world known idea of suicide and cyber bullying have taken over the internet. The articles used to complete this essay are very informative about the person you may be on the internet versus the person you really are. Internet addiction is a well know idea but not a fully developed research. This essay also includes how the internet can create social vampires in society. Not knowing how to interact in real life but a internet sensation otherwise.

The internet has become a worldwide phenomenon where everyone has access to almost everything on the web. The books and articles available online about the internet and the different views and ways to use it has help many people realize that the internet is not all that it is cracked up to be. An article illustrates the addiction people have had with the internet over the past decade and how it has impact adolescents and young adults. “Internet users can be considered addicted if he or she scores high on six criteria” (Brown, & Blinka, .2012, p382). The six criteria they mention were salience (cognitive and behavioral), mood changer, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms and relapse. These are describes as serious problems. The article emphasizes the ways the internet can change a persons’ communication skills when they are not online. The internet has a blind side effect on people who can differentiate between online activity and reality. “….some adolescents and emerging adults may be using the internet so much that it interferes with face-to-face interactions….” (p. 381). The authors are essentially saying that we become social zombies when we are offline, not knowing what to say and basically not being our true selves. People find themselves not knowing who they are and where they stand in the world outside of social networking. For young people internet addiction may be related to self-esteem issues. (p.382). The internet for some individuals is an escape from the outside whole, it is merely a safe haven where they can meet new people and behave the way they feel. It is no surprise when the authors found out that younger people where more active on the internet than adults. Unfortunately they were not able to find the addiction rate between adolescents and adults. The authors in conclusion to their article stated that their research results have limitations and that there is no real proof to internet addiction as yet.

Other article illustrates the good that the internet has brought to society and then there is the bad. Cyber bulling and the well known internet suicide, is sweeping the world with grief and turmoil. The article “Social Media And Suicide Risk” , is an article that explains the dangers of social media in society. The internet provides access to suicide information, as in how to commit suicide and lethal weapons that can be used. These web sites that provide this information are easily accessible from anywhere at any time. According to the authors, approximately half of the web sites on the internet are prosuicide web sites that provide information about suicide (Luxton, June, Fairall, 2012, p195). There are several ways that social media can lead to suicidal behavior. Cyber bullying has been a leading cause of suicide of long period of time. “Cyber bulling refers to when a child or adolescent is intentionally and repeatedly targeted by another child in the form of threats” (p: 195). Cyber bulling has a greater impact on adolescents and young adults especially if they are the ones being mistreated. Cyber bulling has not yet been recognized as a exclusive provider of suicide but it has a great risk of making people feeling unwanted and so having them isolate themselves from situation they cannot control. Social media allows anyone to create any kind of group. There are groups on the internet that allows people to join and discuss their suicide attempts and any related suicidal behaviors. Suicidal pacts are formed in these groups. A suicide pact is an agreement between two or more people to die by suicide at a particular time by a particular lethal weapon (p: 197). This form of pact is usually formed between strangers rather than a traditional pact. Unfortunately, there is no way to know who is a part of an online suicide pact.

In the book “Virtually you: The Dangerous Powers Of The E-Personality” written by Elias Aboujaoude, MD, the author discovers how the e-personality can be as self-destructive as it is alluring. He states that our E-personality may be in competition with our real life personality reminding us of our failures and how little our lives really mean. (Elias Aboujaoude, 2011 p:32). The author was a weekend assistant for a doctor in a small clinic, during this time he found out how the e-personality has change real life people and turned them into social vampires. With online web sites appealing to low self esteem individuals and chat rooms allowing you to be whoever you want to be, you forget who you really are offline. These online chat rooms allows you to say what you want and be who you want but when you have to meet a person face-to-face, these meetings must be terrifying with reminders of personal awkwardness. The internet not only messes with young people but also older individuals. Married Men searching for an exciting online experience, finds themselves in a tussle when their wives find out about their internet ordeals. The book is an explanation of virtual online individual and their offline condition.

References

Luxton, I., June, J., & Fairall, J. (2012). Social Media and Suicide: A Public Health Perspective. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(S2), S195-S200.
Smahel, D., Brown, B., & Blinka, L. (2012). Associations between online friendship and Internet addiction amoung adolescents and emerging adults. Developmental Psycology, 48(2), 381- 388. doi:10.1037/a0027025

Elias, Aboujaoude, MD. (2011). Virtually You, The Dangerous Powers Of The E-Personality. New York, London: W.W Norton & Company.