We live in a world where people are becoming increasingly more dependent on sophisticated devices. We rely on cars to get from point A to point B and even for some, in need for prescription glasses for a better vision. I believe that it is acceptable to say that cars are prostatic of our feet and glasses are prostatic of our eyes because consequently, we are all becoming Cyborgs. The increasing reliance on technology is becoming part of our convention. - Of course nomads are not considered as cyborgs since they depend very much on the nature itself.
Therefore, we are highly engaged with it from the time we leave the house to the time we get back home. - And it doesn’t end there. Some of us may find ourselves going back to the virtual world as avatars to stay connected with your loved ones via Skype or even creating your own community where you find yourself well-respected by your peers.
This week’s entry I have decided to study on the significance of the cyber world. This is because, it fascinate me how people are so engrossed with the virtual world.
According to Barrie Sherman and Phil Judkins, they believed that virtual reality may be a place for people to be more comfortable than that of the outside world. With the new technology, people are finally able to flee from the limitations and the frustrations of the imperfect world.
“Virtual reality allows us to play with god: We can make water solid and solid fluid; we can imbue inanimate objects (chairs, lamps, engines) with an intelligent life of their own. We can invent animals, singing textures clever colors or fairies.” (Robins, 2000, pp.78)
Let’s take a look at this video clip.
In this video, you can see that cyber life provides entertainment for the disabled. They managed to make a lot of friends at the same time have fun in their avatar. However, being disabled limits them in doing things in the real world. Most of the times they are being confined at home thus, restricting them to interact and meet new people. As a result, they prefer being in the virtual world because it is in that world that they can do virtually anything from dancing to flying and swimming with whales.
What’s more interesting about the virtual world is that we get to create our own identity.
Rheingold believes that people have their roots “deep in that part of human nature that delights in storytelling and playing “let’s play pretend”. (pp. 80) However, the downside to this is that some of these people get too absorbed by the virtual world thus having difficulties distinguishing between what’s real and what’s not anymore.
There was a recent case in South Korea where a couple, husband of age 41 and his 25 year old wife was convicted of abandoning their newborn daughter by starving her to death while they addictively played an online game raising a virtual child. On average, the couple played at the Internet cafes 10 hours each day and only bottle-fed the baby once a day. (Press, 2010)
What I can conclude from this is that, although cyber life is a place where we can abort ourselves from the imperfect world and enjoy the little wanders from the tiny screen, we need to set about disillusioning ourselves and come back to reality, accepting the fact that we’re human beings and we can’t be perfect little creatures.
Works Cited
Press, A. (2010, may 30). 'Internet addicts' convicted of starving baby to death. Retrieved november 3, 2010, from www.nwcn.com: http://www.nwcn.com/news/Internet-addicts-guilty-of-starving-baby-to-death-95221439.html
Robins, K. (2000). Cyberspace and the world we live in. In D. a. Bell, The cybercultures (pp. 77-95). London: Routledge.
