Relationships and Networking : Relationships and Networking Fishbowl Day
Article 1: Whose Space? : Differences in Net users pg. 2: Men have been shown to spend more time online and claim higher-level skills than women. Factors such as socioeconomic status have also been shown to predict types of Internet uses. The circumstances under which people use the medium-such as their autonomy and experience of use- are also related to the purposes to which they put the medium.
“this finding seems to imply that Facebook use is mostly for keeping in touch with students on one’s campus whom one sees during day-to-day college life, or that such a motivation may at least account for initial uptake of the service” pg. 13
“optimists about the Internet’s potential to improve people’s lives emphasize its ability to sidestep constraints stemming from one’s physical surroundings, but the finding of this study suggest that, if anything, people who are already constrained due to particular circumstances are precisely the ones not benefiting from some of the Web’s potential”… since people from different backgrounds choose different services there is “less intermingling of users from varying backgrounds than discourse about the supposed freedom of online interactions may suggest” pg 15 Article 1: Whose Space?
Article 2: Too Much of a Good Thing? : “Traditional (offline) social networks suggest that the number of people with whom an individual maintains close relationships is about 10-20 and the total number of social relationships people manage may be around 150”… however on online social networks the “friends” a person has often dramatically exceed this figure
“there comes a point when too many apparent friendship connections becomes too much of a good thing. When the number of friends becomes implausible, apparent sociometric popularity becomes a hindrance, rather than an advantage to the good impression of the profile owner”
No upper limit to how many friends you can have offline, but if you have too many online you may be a “Facebook whore”, in both worlds it is considered “bad” to have too few friends Article 2: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Article 3: Liberating or debilitating? : “idealization can occur in cyberspace… Whitty contends that it is psychologically unhealthy for people to stray too far into the fantasy side of the online world- this could lead to relationships that might never live up to expectations if taken into the offline world or alternatively it might lead to cyber-infidelities” (Whitty, 1842)
Being on the internet too much decreases your offline social circle and increases depression and loneliness… internet usage was taking up time that could be used for more psychologically beneficial actions offline
“Engaging in online sexual acts is not a negative experience for all people and instead can be very liberating” (Whitty,1847) Article 3: Liberating or debilitating?
Video: Online Relationships and Identity : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFsfDLCkfQU Video: Online Relationships and Identity