Week 3: Topic 1 Questions D & E

d) As I mentioned in the previous question, cyberidentities allow people to escape from their own ‘real identity ‘and take part in fantasies that they may have which cannot be fulfilled in real life. Identity experiments in cyber space “...represent a retreat from, or an alternative to social reality” (Lister et al. 2003; 168). Being able to do this can be considered to be an alternative to normal social reality as you can get away with and try things that you cannot accomplish in reality. The idea of escapism is implied here as you are escaping into a different world for a few hours daily weekly or monthly before returning back to your every day activities.

e)When looking idea of online relationships being the same as offline relationships I feel there are an array of similarities and differences. When looking at e-mail, social networking sites and IM (instant messaging) the idea of an online relationship is similar to an offline one: You usually know the person you are communicating with and have no doubt spoken to them through other methods of communication such as telephones, letter form or face to face.

I feel communicating in an online relationship whether it be with friends, family or business colleagues etc can be different to offline relationships. As I mentioned in question B, having an online persona can make you feel more confident as you are not talking to the person face to face. By having this confidence, you may be more daring in expressing your opinions. Personally I prefer speaking to some people on the internet rather than face to face as you never seem to get an ‘awkward silence’ (unless someone doesn’t reply back straight away!) and the conversation seems to flow better. Another difference between online and offline relationships is that you have no facial expressions to look at which may affect the point how are trying to make/how you’re feeling. Also you can’t determine how some things are being implied to you over the internet as you don’t get any tone to a conversation or emphasis on words. It is simply just a line of text which is read on a screen that can be perceived in different ways. :)