This essay was the most challenging assignment I've had to complete so far. Below is an unedited copy of the submitted and marked essay. Mark: Distinction
Virtual Communities allow forms of identity and social relations that are unconstrained by our bodies, space and time.
Through the evolution of the tethered “always on/always on us” self, the separation between offline and online has converged, the ‘self’ now occupying the space between the physical and the virtual. (Turkle, 2006). Without the constraints of a physical body the virtual self is enabled to move through the online space and is presented with the opportunity to connect with communities that are diverse and unconstrained by time and space. The online community of Second Life allows individuals to find community within a simulated online world, intimacy can be uncovered for young people considering their sexuality and believers are able to access the Australian mega church community of Hillsong through ‘new’ technologies - through these examples I will evaluate the ‘self’ and how virtual communities allow forms of identity and social relations to form without the constraint of our bodies, time and space.
Communities, both online and offline form through the need for people to connect and share with others. Shafi points out an online community can be "… different people from different parts of the world establish a virtual community in cyber space. Here they share their ideas, opinions, belief, political perspectives, interests etc. …" (2005), this concept of community has enabled people to discover each other as they would not have in an offline setting. The growing mobile connectedness to the Internet via handheld devices further encourages the apparent removal of spatial separation, promoting a sense of presence, that people are there for each other in a way similar to offline face to face interaction. (Slater, 2002). The removal of spatial separation, takes us a step closer to truly fulfilling Marshall McLuhan’s concept of ‘the global village’, within which we are simultaneously connected, receiving information and contributing. (Dixon, 2009)
The online gaming environment of Second Life allows players the potential to create for themselves an alternate ‘second life’, whilst contributing to the Second Life world. Within the game, there is a large selection of potential avatars, jobs, communities and religions for a player to align with. PussycatCatnap a Second Life player and blogger recently blogged ‘Second Life needs to own what it is; a video game. Denying that puts it in a strange middle ground where it cannot get any traction’ (PussycatCatnap, 2012) This user understands and embraces the online game for what it is and does for her as an individual within the community. It is a form of ‘identity workshop’ (Bruckman, 1992) the user enjoys the freedom the ‘game’ offers, not wanting it to push into offline life. Turkle (2006, p7) confirms ‘It is too limiting to think that people are tethered to their devices. People are tethered to the gratifications offered by their online selves’. In the online world of Second Life, the identity created is often in direct response to the identity one holds offline.
The process of finding ones identity comes to the fore during adolescence. Young people, who often feel constrained by social barriers in regards to sexuality offline, may find these barriers removed online, enhancing the possibility of finding a community that is likeminded and able to offer support for their developing identity.
There are many empowering factors for online relationships, such as the apparent anonymity, an absence of traditional offline indicators (i.e. appearances), an ease of finding others with specialised interests and finally a greater control over interactions and presentation of ones self. (Amichai-Hamburger, & McKenna, 2006). Online, freed from traditional constraints of space and time, an individual is able to take make use of these online embedded factors. This adds another dimension for youth to negotiate during the particularly fragile time of identity building. Finding a supportive online community within which young people feel safe to share their ‘coming out’ story gives a sense of ‘authenticity’ to discovering sexuality, more so than watching gay characters on a television show. (Gray, 2009) As new media scholar Nancy Baym argues “online spaces are constructed and the activities that people do online are intimately interwoven with the construction of the offline world…whether we are using the Internet or not” (Baym, 2006, p. 86). The ‘self’ no longer exists either online or offline, through attachment to devices it ‘now occupies the liminal space between the physical and its life on the screen’. (Turkle, 2006, p.2). Today’s tethered teens are able to access many communities that enable not only a less stressful, and more normalised experience during a vulnerable time but give them the opportunity to connect to themself. (Turkle, 2006). The Internet has provided a space for sexual minorities to identify and reveal their sexual orientation, or interests before doing so offline. Bamm, et al. (2009) describe how this can be a “relatively safe environment to share feelings about one’s sexual orientation.
The apparent authenticity online is not limited to young peoples identity work. The job of identity forming never ends, we simply use the tools available to us at each stage of our lives. (Turkle, 2006) Individuals are looking to the Internet to find a place, a community, that they share faith with more than ever before. Slater (2002) observes "…past media have also seemed to constitute new forms and spaces of sociality, even virtuality's, they have quickly been absorbed into every day practices as utilities …" (cited McLuhan 1974,Standage 1999 by Slater, 2002), just as finding your sexual self online is no longer an unusual avenue, neither is the everyday activity of practicing ones faith. Evangelists have been using the broadcast medium of television for decades however television because of its ‘one to many’ communication, it does not hold the collaborative appeal of an online environment.
Many of the newer ‘megachurches’, a church with a weekly attendance of 2,000 or more, purposefully create an image enticing to a younger congregation, a congregation seeking religion actively as opposed to more traditional faith holders. Von der Ruhr & Daniels (2012, p. 358) explain, ‘Seeker-oriented mega churches typically target religious refugees, or seekers, in order to grow’. By removing external visual cues of any particular faith, by removing the ‘space’, for example crosses, stained glass windows, kneeling and traditional hymns the new mega churches are packaging religion in a truly palatable way for almost anybody. ‘Hillsong exemplifies the globalisation of religion, while simultaneously stressing local ties, with contemporary media technology in a traditional theological and modern social context’ (Connell, 2006, p. 315) Australia’s mega church Hillsong strongly ustilises the web to send a message of it’s own ‘mega-ness’. An individual is able to employ computer mediated communication (CMC) to understand the religious product on offer well before stepping physical foot inside the church, taking McLuhan’s (1965) comment ‘the medium is the message’ to a new level. Faith, being part of the ‘devices’ that tether us, through our laptops and our smart phones is constant part of the ‘always on-always on us’ self (Turkle, 2006). Where once attending mass once a week was the required engagement, there is now a myriad of online meetings, conferences, donations of money and time to be accessed constantly.
Throughout the history of our species, humans have sought to "conquer time and space through speech, art and architecture, through writing and printing, and through various forms of transportation." Innis, 1951, p. 161. The vehicle of transportation is now the Internet. Humanity is moving toward living ‘liminally’ neither completely engaged in the physical offline or the virtual online. Without the constraint of a physical body the virtual self is enabled to move through the online space, however our concept of space and time has shifted. From the advent of the mechanical clock, time has been effectively separated from space, time becoming like modern space ‘which is empty and the same everywhere’. (Giddens, 1990, p.17-18 in Hongladaram, 2002) This concept of modern space speaks to the new ‘megachurches’ lack of religious cues and the self-build identity available on Second Life. The opportunities presented to engage with communities online are endless and there is a diversity of community available well beyond the local. The ‘self’ is freed online to access and engage with virtual communities allowing social relations to form without the constraint of our bodies, time and space.
Reference List.
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Meh…Its just a video game. amiright? Second Life need to own what it is – a game. (2012) Retrieved August 5, 2012, from http://catnapkitty.wordpress.com/category/second-life/community/Meh… Its just a video game. amiright? Second Life need to own what it is – a game
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Finally read this! Was awesome, Sare. xx
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