Hey yellow bloggers. My name is Caryn Ganeles and I am a sophomore communication major from Boca Raton, Florida. So no, I don’t like the cold, no, I wasn’t insane when I chose to leave Florida, and no, I do not know your grandparents in the Boca/Delray/Boynton Beach area. My favorite Ithaca season is fall and my favorite food is anything with melted cheese. I haven’t gotten as involved as I would like to be at Cornell, but I’m hoping to turn that around this semester, maybe through joining an a capella group or running for a position in my sorority. I love 1 hit wonders from the 90s, bad reality TV on VH1, and perfectly clear blue skies. I’m not sure where I want the communication major to take me, but I’ve been enjoying it thus far.
I spend an absurd amount of time on the internet checking my email, the weather, and most importantly my Facebook account. So my question is: What aspects of the internet make it so addictive? Why do I choose to sit at my computer at times instead of socialize in the hallway? As a relatively new form of media, I wonder if the internet will replace all other print and electronic media as it continues to evolve. I can now watch episodes of TV, download movies, read the news, and talk to my friends via my internet connection. Also, what psychological factors within us are affected by internet use? Other less interactive forms of media typically affect 1 or 2 sensory systems at a time, like vision or hearing. Could the internet be damaging to our brains because of a sensory overload? Overall, I am curious about why and how the internet directly affects people at a basic level.
According to Chapter 1 in Wallace’s The Psychology of the Internet, the internet is made of the World Wide Web, email, asynchronous discussion forums, synchronous chats, MUDs, metaworlds, and interactive video and voice. Because my question refers to the online world as a whole, it includes all of these different environments. We instant message people in synchronous chats, we read the news in the World Wide Web, and we play games in MUDs. I want to know if each environment has a different affect on people or if they all work the same way in our minds. This may explain why certain people are drawn towards the different environments.
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Hello Caryn! I think your questions about the overall addictiveness of the internet make a good point. There might not be one specific space that makes the internet so addicting- it might be an emergent property of the multifarious, open-ended possibilities that are freely available. I have certainly found myself cycling through checking my e-mail, checking Facebook, and watching YouTube videos in a manner that prevents me from getting much else done! I think the integration of all these forces lends strongly to the addiction-- who hasn't checked their e-mail to find that someone has posted a Youtube video link on their wall?
I don't think your question about sensory overload is very well thought out, however. As engaging as computers may be, they certainly don't involve more sensory activity than many of our other daily activities (driving a car, brushing your teeth, playing basketball-- all involve vision, hearing, touch, and usually include olfaction and gustation as well). It might be concerning how obsessively people will expose themselves to the internet, but I doubt it is explicitly damaging. But if it were, than that would be extremely worth examining! Great post!
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