Cyber psychology and the shifting persona of the cyber citizen: Who is the self in the virtual world?

In the modern world people operate their businesses and practically live their lives through the Internet, the use of social media, and easily obtainable information. Although easy access to nearly everything and everyone has many advantages, there are plenty disadvantages that accompany social media and easily obtainable information. If the world only knew how becoming aware of the rewards and drawbacks of social media and the ability to access information with ease people may change how they practice and consume it, especially when understanding the need to further question the reliability of their sources. It is important to understand the advantages,

In the past decade, the number of internet users in the United States and worldwide has grown dramatically with an estimated 218 million US citizens having

Author, Senior editor of The New Atlantis, and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Christine Rosen, in her article “Virtual Friendships and the New Narcissism,” analyzes if technology can provide what it promises- “a surer sense of who we are and where we belong.” Rosen’s purpose of her article is to argue that social networking sites are doing more harm than good. Rosen uses multiple studies and quotes to present her argument.

An increase in Internet maturity, correlates with an increase in real per capita GDP on average of $500. Looking back to the Industrial Revolution, it’s growth took 50 years to achieve these same results. This demonstrates both the magnitude and impact the internet delivers to all levels of society. In the French Economy, the internet had reported to have destroyed 500,000 jobs over the past 15 years, but has also over those same amounts of years has created 1.2 million new ones. For every job the internet has taken away, it’s created twice the amount. It’s safe to the internet has been able to increase the worlds GDP bringing great growth to the

As one of the 90’s kids, it was quite hard for me to believe that the existing circumstance of our civilization was all developed in less than 3 decades. We are exposed to the Internet in such a young age and grow up with it that we are automatically accustomed to it and deem the Internet as an essential of life. “How do people even live without the Internet?”, most of us wonder. The older generations, such as our parents and instructors, were born in a simpler era, completing their tasks manually and enjoying their lives in a more simplistic way. The civilization was aggrandized greatly in their 20’s and 30’s, the Internet suddenly came into their lives without any caution. The older generations encountered these enormous changes in their

Global population has reached over 7.4 billion, of those people 3.5 billion people can access the internet. And to break that 3.5 billion internet users down further 286.9 million are from the united states. That is 88.5% of the population.The internet has been used as a tool to make everyday life easier. You can search information, communicate with others, browse websites all at the touch of a button. This seems all good until you start applying the things you’ve see or hear online into your everyday life, without stopping to check; or at the very least consider, that what you might have saw or heard could be false. Many Americans have access to the internet and most of the time it has a negative impact on our daily life.Some things that can negatively impact American lives are false information, illegal activity, and can cause psychological damage.

Since its introduction on a public scale in the 1990s, the internet has been associated with many changes in social experience. Many aspects of social life such as education, work, commerce and even personal relationships have changed through the internet. However, researchers have found that, at least in the early years, access to the internet is shaped according to gender, class, ethnicity and education. During the 1990s the typical information technology user was a white, male, professional with a background in IT. This bias in internet access was named the ‘digital divide’ to point out the implied social inequalities. It was said that the internet was

While Twitter and Facebook based mobilization will occasionally lead to real social and political change, much initial digital reaction comes from the human instinct to impress (Morozov, 2011). Many citizens partook in this social cause not because they truly believed in the need for social change and the creation of political discourse but they participated because they felt that if others saw them supporting, it would enhance online persona and connect them to an online community. The idea of enabling a moral personality that assists with representing one’s idealized self-image. However, when applied to cyberspace, created is the “the cyber super-ego” a concept which represents “ the collapse of the binary distinction of an illusory cyberspace, and its colonisation of reality” (Dick

With this, online friendships are a self-seeking prophecy. This idea diverges from the original studies of online relationships, which discovered that internet users are lonelier than those with less access to the internet (Tufecki 7). The more recent study of the hyperpersonal nature of today’s society online, known as “Seek and Ye Shall Find”, found the opposite to be true, emphasizing that individuals who believe that online friendships and strong relationships can be gained through those networks have much higher odds (52%) of acquiring new friends (Tufecki 7) and benefit most from online interactions. The hyperpersonal nature of the cyberspace comes to be seen as a space for people to be freer of social judgment due to the mediated communication deemphasizing appearance and shifting its focus towards

Trying to find a good friend is like finding a four-leaf clover; it's hard to find, but lucky to have. The term friendship is a unique bond between two individuals—whether it’s a charming boy and a geeky girl, an elder woman and a young adult, or even between a cat and a dog. Friendship takes no form, instead it is the individual trust toward others. Dating back to the creation of the human species, people were familiar with the idea of companionship, in addition of being a companion, it relies on a sense of comfort and protection. Presently, people still share that bond of comfort and protection toward others, but the term companionship has changed into what is now known today as friendship. The world is currently evolving into a digital era, a generation where everyone and everything are connected by the power of computers, including meeting new people across the world where it’s impossible to meet in person. However, even though it’s easily accessible to make friends online, it can never favor those who live locally. The reason why is because in the digital world, people are highly deceptive and are limited in communication while in comparison to those who lives locally. However, it isn’t wrong to make friends online, even though, some of them are misleading. It’s more suitable to have friends locally as they have better communication efficiency, living proof of actual identity, and as well of physically spending quality time together.

Social media improves the way people communicate with others. It allows them to meet new people. At the click of a button, millions of strangers all over the world who would have never met otherwise are able to connect with each other. Many people believe that internet friends are not as valuable as real life friendships. However with websites like “skype” and instant messaging sites, long distance friendships can be as intimate as real life friendships because social media allows friends to see each other face to face and spend quality time together whenever they want to. Because of this, internet friendships should no longer be considered taboo and should be seen as normal human relationships, “It’s entirely possible to have hundreds of

The accessibility of the new information technology has led that social structures change, and with it the ways of relating to others. With this process of change has created what is known as "virtual communities", Rheingold defined the virtual communities as a group of social aggregates which arises from internet when a group of people create public discussions long enough to create networks of personal relationships in cyberspace. (Rheingold, 1993, The Virtual Community,). Thus individuals create new social networks where they can exchange information anytime, anywhere, depending on their needs and desires. Issues such as that new information technologies can interfere interpersonal relationships are increasingly questioned by several studies that analyze the impact positive and negative to the use and abuse leads. The aim of this essay is to discuss the pros and cons of the effects that are producing social networks.

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2007). These sites could be used for work related situation, romance, connecting with individuals with shared interest, or creating a connection amongst college students. Facebook enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘‘friends’’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles (Ellison, 2007). Individuals can write on the wall of friends, send private message, comment on posts, as well as chat via instant messaging. Much of the early research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared geography (Ellison, 2007).

The Internet is a technology that has negative impacts on our daily lives. It has changed aspects of our life for the last 50 years, and it has demonstrated the considerable influence on people’s lives. Almost 3.2 billion people in the world use the internet. The Internet has gained acceptance across the globe, and it has also become a reason behind the critical changes in the modern society. Some of the changes are social isolation, health disorder, lack of privacy and internet addiction.

As stated by ONS (office for national statistics) in 2014, 38 million adults (76%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 21 million more than in 2006 as well as 22 million households (84%) having Internet access in 2014, up from 57% in 2006. The dramatic increase in internet usage and access can indicate the widespread of such a fashionable tool; however it is known that as well as being an effective