We're all familiar, in varying degrees, with the Internet. It's a technological phenomenon that has positively exploded over the last 15-20 years. In many ways, it has become its own subculture; and within that subculture exists a myriad of sub-subcultures and interest groups. Some of them include:
- Deviant Artists (LiveJournal communities, fanfiction/slashers, oekaki frequenters)
- Forum-Based Opinionators (redditors, 4chan)
- Social Networking Moguls (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter)
- Identity Crises (MMORPG, FPS, RPing)
- Entertainment Seekers (YouTube, webseries, Newgrounds)
The number of people who participate in each of these groups numbers in the millions. Not only is it a significant amount of the population, but people who don't take the time to really examine these groups as their own subcultures can miss out on a bigger picture of which they were not aware. Go on-- name an anthropologist or a sociologist who's studying Internet subcultures. I can't think of any, and I've been around the Internet since Neopets first launched. (In a few years, this is really going to date me.)
We have an untapped resource of sociological and anthropological studies available to us, and we don't have to look any further than our computers. I don't advocate laziness, but research for research's sake could take us deeper into understanding humans not only in groups, but hiding behind the mask of anonymity in those groups.
Here are my questions for the world:
- What does this mask of anonymity give to the people of the Internet?
- How have these subcultures progressed over time?
- Is there any good to come out of identifying the Internet's social groups?
- Is this really a culture at all?
- What negative effects has the stratification of people on the Internet had in contemporary society?
As I think of more, I'll post them. If you have any suggestions, I welcome them!
No comments:
Post a Comment