Although it is easy to think of online meetings as having no emotional value whatsoever, this is not always the case. There is a chance that a similar topic will start an online community, which mainly consists of people that get addicted to communicating with each other. The most important difference between these communities and random groups of people is that the people within the communities seem to actually care for each other. For example, in chapter 4 of this class’s textbook, people within these online communities have been known to give each other emotional support during relationship problems. Such was the case of “The Bronze”, a cyberspace community that formed multiple friendships until it shut down on July 10, 2001.
It is easy for people to become members of these online communities, especially when all of the members share a common interest. After a while, the participants start to tell more about themselves until they form friendships with each other. This is why we should not always be so quick to judge real communities from fake ones, just as Mr. Rheingold stated in his BBC interview. While I have never been a member of an online community, I have seen examples of bloggers teaming up for a common interest, such as wanting to make sure a certain DLC that they would all enjoy gets into a videogame. Like Mr. Rheingold stated, these online communities offer a lot of business across otherwise difficult-to-cross borders. Online communities fit into our social lives by allowing us to communicate with potentially millions of people across the globe. In conclusion, I agree with what I think is Mr. Rheingold’s most noteworthy comment, that if we don’t learn to live together on the planet now, we’re never going to.
I find it really interesting that you brought up the idea of addiction. I would love to read studies about this as it applies to online communities. Although I agree that relationships online are real, I also think people tend to spend a lot more time engaging in online relationships than they would with offline relationships. For instance, I bet members of the Bronze spent more cumulaitive time logged into that board than they did with any other person not associated with the board (not counting living with a spouse or something of that nature).
That is sort of a harsh reality, but probably true Tim. Nevertheless, the relationships are real and the feelings are real. If only they would devote that time into offline relationships there would be less people seeking online communities to vent to. I think, that it it is good that there is a place where people can vent to, or else there would be more angry people out there.
I think addiction might be a strong word but I do feel that there might be parallels between low self esteem or life changing events that lead people to give more effort to their online relationships than their face to face ones. This can be for reasons discussed in our readings, such as one’s ability to self edit online before posting, or they can simply be that shy individuals find it easier to communicate without another personal physically present. People who troll online may lack control in their own lives so they using trolling as an “acting out” tool.
I enjoyed your post and definitely agree with you when you said that people can become a part of an online community because of shared interests. LATER, they may become friends and form a real relationship with someone, but it isn’t until then, that I believe these communities have a REAL purpose. I am not saying some communities are fake, but it isn’t until you see an actual relationship form from an online community that you deem it true.