Flaming and Trolling

While flaming and trolling are common behaviors among many online users on many platforms, I was curious about the main goal behind such behaviors and what psychologically inspires the activity. While a troll is a verbal or physical action intended merely to elicit a reaction from a person or group, a flame is a verbal or physical action done for personal enjoyment in addition to the response.  In this lesson, I was more concerned to understand the psychological motivation behind the two and mostly to comprehend if the same behaviors are reciprocated in the bullying that cats across in schools and many other institutions. To my amazement, some people accrue satisfaction from actions that offend or harm others. Their ego is rather satisfied by hurting others perhaps the reason why flaming is associated with social identity model of de-individuation effects (Cho, & Kwon, 2015). Perhaps this is the main reason behind some of the videos and images uploaded online to elicit reactions of the people.

Week 2 – Online Protest

When thinking of online protest, it struck me that it employees similar principal as Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence protest. However, unlike Gandhi’s protest online protest use tweets and Facebook posts to air their grievances which raises the concern of “who cares” or how effective is the approach in solving the day to day challenges facing the common people. Additionally, I was eager to learn about the social psychology behind online discussions and protests and particularly to understand what would happen if the online protest was ignored by the government or any other group that is concerned. My question being whether or not the online users will result to other means of protest if they realized the online was is not effective. After all when a person tweets he or she is not addressing anyone specifically but a group that easily ignore the tweet or any other online platform for that matter.

Week 3 – therapy and Support

With the increased online activities, it is possible now to access instant and inexpensive therapists with just a click of the mouse of the tap of an application in your mobile phone (American Psychology Association, 2017). My greatest concern is, however, in the accountability and responsibility of the online behaviours among the online family. Who will account for the privacy of the data provided especially with regards to personal details? Again many cases of self-medication have been reported with many people opting to “Google” the symptoms and the “right medication” for their problems. Thus, my mind was filled with many questions concerning online therapy and support and how effective it can in this generation whereby people opt to treat themselves. I hoped the lesson would shed more light on the psychological impacts of using online therapy and support without physical diagnosis of the patient.

Week 4 – The Feminist Internet

Drawing from cultural and technology studies, the feminist internet tries to empower women in all diversities to embrace changes that positively contribute to their development in the society (Van Zoonen, 2002). In this lesson, I was much concerned with how the internet can be used to strengthen feminist movements and advance women’s rights at different levels in the society and the globe. I remembered the young girl Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan; her activism and how the internet helped her spread the message of women empowerment and equal rights for girls. But again she stirred uproar among the male counterpart especially because of the religious reasons and ended up being short, but luckily she survived. My concerns are what are the psychological challenges that feminists activists have to encounter while being bullied on the internet and how can they cope with such stressing situations. And also I was more curious of how feminist internet looks like and if it can protect women from torment from bullies.

Week 5 – The Sustainable Internet

The constant evolution of the internet technologies presents an opportunity to foster much-needed transformation in different sectors of our lives (SustainIT, 2017). Nevertheless, the proliferation of the internet has its own challenges such as its sustainability. In this class, I was more interested in understanding what will happen if the internet was shut once and the world went back to the way it was before the 80s when the internet came into place. The truth is that IT has significantly improved the social life of many people and if it was shut down perhaps many people will have their lives shut down also. Think of those people who utilize the internet as their online dating platform and how they will be psychologically demotivated if the internet is not sustainable. This topic was an essential eye-opener when it comes to understanding the social needs and demands of the sustainable internet for people.

Week 6 – Relationships

Much has been talked about with regard to dangers associated with internet addiction ranging from pornography to merely surfing the web (Lickerman, 2017). Truly, the internet has become part of the social life in the 21st centuries. Like an addiction, the real cost for those addicted to the tech is the quality of relationships with spouses, families, and others. There are serious dangers associated with the technology and relationships. Many families are broken due to lack of enough time to communicate effectively, and couples spend so many hours on the internet and with their tech toys. Thus, it is critical to evaluate the psychology behind technology and the relationships. Thus, as I went to this class, I hoped to understand the importance of technology and its dangers on relationships. The discussions were necessary in constructive criticism on the internet and relationships despite the fact that the internet forms a critical part of the people’s lives.

Week 7 – Conspiracy Theories

According to Oliver and Wood (2014), conspiracy theories have long been part of American cultures, but there has not been any systematic research designated to examine the nature of their support in the mass public. The conspiracy theories emerge from the suspicions that the public has towards the centralized authority and their political elites. I have always wondered if the theories are stage-managed to psychologically satisfy the members of the public or what is the motivation behind these theories. When thinking 9/11 terrorist attack on the US soil, the question is did the government formulate a conspiracy theory to hide some factors from the members of the public. Again what could be the repercussion if the theory failed to capitalize on the target audience? Accordingly, my focus on the readings of this class was mainly on the impacts of the conspiracy theories on the mass and what could happen if the theories failed to influence the minds of the people.

Week 8 – Online Environments

Online presence has become a fundamental thing in the modern social life as it fosters the feeling of “being there” and “being together” among the many online users. The technology makes people feel positively connected with others through the internet (Duggan, 2014). However, the online environment is not always very conducive to everyone. The environment is full of criminals, bullies, and other social vices. In light of these social challenges associated with the online environment, I was looking forward to understanding the psychology behind the online users. Why do people log into the internet or what inspires their actions while online? Additionally, I was curious if it is possible to have ways of streamlining the online environment without infringing the rights of the people. It reminds of the movie "White House Down" where lack of internet freedom leads young people to join hands with criminals as a deviant behaviour against the government.

Week 10 – Internet Addiction

Internet addiction is a rapidly growing subject of concern among many researchers, journalists, and policymakers (Cash et al., 2012). The internet addiction ruins lives and causes neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems perhaps the reason it is attraction more researchers. It is surprising that many people would not consider themselves as internet addict and in fact, the term itself is only synonymous with drugs and other anti-social conducts. This makes the subject of internet addiction an interesting one as I looked forward to comprehending how much accounts to internet addiction and what is its psychological impacts. More or so, why is the subject becoming an important consideration at this particular time? Is it because more people are becomingly involved with the internet or what is guiding the relevance of the study. Accordingly, the topic was an essential reminder that too much of something is not good and the internet can really ruin the social life of an individual. But also a pointer that just because you watch several YouTube videos, shop online often, or check social media frequently it does not mean you suffer from Internet Addiction Disorder.

Week 11 – Online Communities

This topic reminded me of Mark Wills talk on Ted and how he talks about online community a fairly simple subject but with many challenges. Online expands the geographical community, and there is a big paradigm shift in how we used to perceive the society. Some issues to do with identity come up as a challenge to the online community because the interactions are based on profiles pictures and usernames that are not always the truth about the person. This reminds me of the online blind dates; where you find falsification of the true identity of people. The rhetoric of the online community lies in the fundamental aspects of society’s socialization with other cultures. My psychological perception of the whole online community was people’s ego drives how they represent themselves. In this light, people only project what they consider as positive hence it I important to be more observant when interacting with the online community.

Week 13 – Online Learning and Motivation

Online learning has become very common at various levels and institutions especially at college and university levels where students are expected to take online classes and exams (Giesbers, Rienties, Tempelaar, & Gijselaers, 2014). This online learning is much driven by the desire to learn while still doing other things. But the question is what motivates the online learners considering that many students do not like learning in the first place. My researchers believe that key motivation has to do with internal drive and personal interests when it comes to online learning considering that no one is pushing the learner to go online to read. More or sore, the interesting thing about the online learning is understanding the psychology behind motivation in online learning whereby a person decides when to attend the online class or not to which in my view is very difficult.

References

American Psychology Association. (2017). What you need to know before choosing online therapy. http://www.apa.org. Retrieved 15 September 2017, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/online-therapy.aspx

Cash, H., Rae, C. D., Steel, A. H., & Winkler, A. (2012). Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research and Practice. Current Psychiatry Reviews, 8(4), 292–298. http://doi.org/10.2174/157340012803520513

Cho, D., & Kwon, K. H. (2015). The impacts of identity verification and disclosure of social cues on flaming in online user comments. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 363-372.

Duggan, M. (2014). Part 2: The Online Environment. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved 15 September 2017, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/part-2-the-online-environment/

Giesbers, B., Rienties, B., Tempelaar, D., & Gijselaers, W. (2014). A dynamic analysis of the interplay between asynchronous and synchronous communication in online learning: The impact of motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(1), 30-50.

Lickerman, A. (2017). The Effect Of Technology On Relationships. Psychology Today. Retrieved 15 September 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201006/the-effect-technology-relationships

Oliver, J. E., & Wood, T. J. (2014). Conspiracy theories and the paranoid style (s) of mass opinion. American Journal of Political Science, 58(4), 952-966.

SustainIT. (2017). SustainIT 2017 - The Fifth IFIP Conference on Sustainable Internet and ICT for Sustainability. Sustainit2017.m-iti.org. Retrieved 15 September 2017, from https://sustainit2017.m-iti.org/

Van Zoonen, L. (2002). Gendering the Internet: Claims, controversies and cultures. European Journal of Communication, 17(1), 5-23.