This is just a side note, but this is a tad strange to me. I keep another blog regularly, but this is something different. I don't have to introduce myself, for one, because I know the people who read my blog, and I am not at the scrutiny of 50 or so students who I don't know and are probably insanely smart. In any case, this is also the first class that requires me to keep a blog as assignments, so I am not complaining. :)
My name is Minji (pronounced MIN as in MINUTE and JI like the letter G) Song, and I am a junior at the ILR school. I was born in Korea, but I was raised for almost all of my life in Queens, New York City. I currently live in Bayside, Queens, but I attended schools in Jackson Heights, Astoria and Flushing. As of now I am close to being completely unaware of what I want to do with my major, but I recently unraveled a passion for youth, so I would like to do something in youth development or education. I am an avid volleyball player and enjoy playing sports, particularly football and catch (Yes, I know this is not a sport, but I enjoy only the catching of baseball. I couldn't hit a ball if my life depended on it). I also enjoy singing very much. Music has played a big role in my growth as a person, so I hope to never go deaf so I can listen to music until I die. I also play the bass guitar.
One internet phenomenon that still continues to intrigue me is the effects of anonymity on people's behavior on the web. I remember when I was in middle school and going into chatrooms and "meeting" new people was the IN thing. I would chat with middle school kids who were my age, so we wouldn't talk about anything too substantial, but I didn't know people could be so crass and rude! I remember one time when I didn't respond to a "whisper" and the dude started cursing at me! I am not the confrontational type, but I responded very strongly to his IMs, pointing out his immaturity and lack of respect. I wouldn't have said ANYTHING this took place in person. I mean, what if he was some big dude who could beat me to a pulp? But more recently, I started "talking" to a guy I met in some random 20s chatroom during the summer. I had never connected with anyone I'd randomly met online, but it was SO different this time because the conversation was just flowing and he made me laugh and all that good stuff. It felt terribly weird at first, because it felt like it wasn't real, but more and more I realized that the anonymity of the internet allowed us to connect in a somewhat substantial way. I found out that he is actually an introvert and it takes him quite a while for him to open up to people, but the anonymity of our encounters allowed him to open up without much trouble. In his words, "we skipped 2 years of hanging out by talking online." So in this sense, anonymity allowed something meaningful and substantial to occur.
This would fit in the synchronous chat environment of the internet as described by Wallace.
This seems abrupt, but that is all I have for now. 'Til next time. :)
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3 comments:
Hello Min Ji!
I thought your internet phenomenon was particularly interesting, because it brings back the old days of when chatting was the so "IN" thing to do as middle school students. At the time, it was basically just students flirting and bashing one another blatantly. However, as a college student, I step back and look at the whole chatroom craze and its interesting to see how many introverts open up on such an application. People open up in ways they would never have before. The chatroom is not just a place to discuss trivial matters anymore, but rather a place to open up to people we do not know. At times, this anonymity on both sides makes the conversation more honest.
I love how you tied your views and experiences with the chatroom as a middle school student, and your views and experiences on it now. It's funny how as children we thought the chatroom was to talk of purely trivial matters. These days, for some, the talks he/she has in a chatroom is their only means of opening up.
Great job Minji!
By the way, I live in Bayside too!
Hi you!
I first want to start off by saying that I am very surprised that you felt a little weird about writing the blog-I think yours was one of the best in terms of truly sounding like a blog, as it was very conversational and personal. I really loved reading it, as it did not sound at all like an assignment!
On another note, your phenomenon really took me back in time and made me remember and laugh at how often I used to enter chat rooms. I know the classic A/S/L question was always asked, but I’m not sure why I enjoyed talking to random strangers about absolutely nothing. I also remember entering chat rooms when I was younger, pretending to be someone who I absolutely was not. While I’m glad that you met someone this summer in a chat room and do feel absolutely comfortable with them, this is not something that I would ever do. It’s a scary world out there and there are many scary people that could make an Internet relationship go completely wrong. While it does work out for some people (my cousin and his now wife actually met in a chat room!), I am curious as to why you decided to go ahead with forming this type of relationship.
I also remember the chat room phase from so long ago--I liked your example describing how people have different behavior patterns when they are not held responsible for them. You mentioned how this affected chat room behavior; I wonder if you or any other COMM 245 students have experienced this kind of behavior in any other online spaces. Which levels of anonymous behavior are prominent in each space? Chat is one of the more synchronous spaces on the internet, as you mentioned; would a communication medium's asynchronous nature lessen or intensify any anonymous behavior?
I enjoyed reading your post! Keep up the good work!
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