"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled....." (Ray Bradbury)
This week has, sadly, added another chapter to the tragic story of what appears to be a mass suicide of a group of young people in Bridgend, South Wales. (See http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1305988,00.html ) . The toll now stands at 17. As the first reports emerged, rumours and theories of an 'internet suicide cult' began to circulate, as all those who had ended their lives were members of the social networking site 'Bebo' and, it seems, belonged to a network of contacts or 'friends' on there. Other theories proposed the possibility of 'internet suicide gurus', influencing the Welsh goups' behaviour.
The police and MPs are currently adamantly denying this possibility on, (it seems to me from the bit I've read), very little evidence other than the fact that most of these young people knew each other - or at least some of the network - in real life too.
Whatever the primary mechanism of effect behind this truly tragic series of events, the internet and social networking sites seem to have played a least a partial role; maybe peripheral and non-catalytic roles but nevetheless their presence is uncomfortably.....worryingly....there.
Over the next couple of weeks you're going to be studying models of cyberpsychology that might offer insight into how a collection of people can, via text-based CMC, adopt incredibly strong bonds of 'group identity', loyalty and extreme polarisation of feeling, thought, and action. You'll be hearing how one of the less positive effects of CMC is, sometimes, 'deindividuation', a term most commonly associated with Festinger et al (1952) and Zimbardo (1969). All of these researchers emphasized how anonymity, diffused responsibility and large 'community' size (all affordances of cyberspace) lead to the very strong need to conform to the social norms of a group...whatever those 'norms' may be, i.e. the internet is a perfect breeding ground for deindividuation, the potential for vulernability to extreme group norms....and potentially tragic consequences.
4 comments:
I've been surprised by the age of these victims, not young teenagers, but late teens and twenties, who I would have thought were less likely to be influenced by their peers or anyone else.
So this probably lends weight to the argument for deindividuation, that these victims have felt part of a group and had strong ties within it.
Whatever the outcome from this, use of the internet has grown fast, the consequence of this seems far reaching.
Going back to Friday's lecture, Avro (or anyone)...which do you suspect comes first to lead to such extreme behaviour: the 'increased private self-awareness' of text-based CMC or the deindividuation group interactiosn there can often cause? The two SEEM like they should be mutually exclusive but I can see how the medium might cause increased reflection and private self-awareness, the content of which, in conversation, becomes public and other (like minded souls) identify with it. From this, the group identity and polarisation / deindividuation process can begin take hold. Scary thought that we're often 'being filled' by interaction in this medium without any (or much) conscious awareness.
What makes some resistant to these effects?
i suspect the increased private self-awareness would come first, however if group identity comes first from being "with" like minded people, you would presumably initialy join in with something you identified with or were interested in.
Then as the group identity strengthened would that not cause increased reflection and private self-awareness.
It's a bit chicken and egg isn't it?
It's an even scarier thought that a whole generation are growing up with access to something so powerfully influencial that has little or no regulation.
Like the anorexic site in the news today that is telling people to how be proper anorexics!!
Excellent observation, Avro! It is a bit chicken and egg, isn't it? I suspect that which occurs first depends on teh person. Either way, it seems to be a powerful mechanism of effect....and yes, largely unregulated.
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