Decentralizing Identity Through Cyberspace Essay, Research Paper

In today’s society we look at ourselves in different contexts and we see different “people” occupying the same body. What I’m trying to say is that we change ourpersonalities and attitudes in order to fit what we feel is appropriate for the situation. In Sherry Turkle’s “Identity in the Age of the Internet”, she takes the viewpointthat the internet has created a setting in which people become decentered and start to exist in many worlds and play many roles at the same time. (Holeton 9) I don’tbelieve that the internet has created this decentralization but that it is shaped by the society we live in today. The internet has taken the world by storm, the average Canadian is very likely to have some kind of access to the internet. This existence of new and excitingtechnology has also created the need to critique the effects of it. I believe that the internet and cyberspace are just one more form of decentralizing media in a daythat already has too many. In my opinion the addition of just one more form of decentering identity would not have a significant effect on society; this one justreceives more publicity. Turkle says that computers are tools as well as a medium on which to project our ideas and fantasies. (Holeton 5) Using the samedescription, we can also describe something as simple as a telephone. A telephone can be used to project the same ideas and fantasies in verbal form instead ofwritten. The internet creates intimate relationships between people who may never meet; but then, what exactly are penpals? It has been said that people in cyberspace are walking a fine line between real and the virtual. If this is in fact such a fine line, why can the average person distinguishbetween real life and the virtual in almost all cases? One example of this is a friend of mine who loves to MUD, he in fact does have a separate and “real” life outsideof the MUD. When I asked him if he has the ability and knowledge to logoff when necessary, he explained that yes, there are certain times that real life takesprecedence and he is capable of deciding when these times occur. Sometimes people become very involved in soap operas on television and feel that it is “more real

than my real life” (Holeton 6) This is similar to players on the MUDs but, all of these peoples’ real lives don’t cease to exist when they are caught up in their virtualones. Children use virtual worlds everytime they play make-believe; I used to do this myself, building all sorts of “virtual” objects and people such as swords anddragons. An example such as this shows that computers are only just a new variation of seeing these virtual worlds. In cyberspace we may be inventing new selves and identities but, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we are also changing our real selves; a player who enjoys battleon the MUD doesn’t necessarily kill in real life. We can use many other media to redescribe and identify ourselves, not just computers. The same anonymity isavailable in the form of telephones, penpals, and new people who don’t know anything about you; you are able to tell these people anything you wish about yourself.Turkle uses the idea that in MUDs, one can be many. (Holeton 8) This can be true in real life as well, such as when a person working by day at a 9-5 office job is acrossdresser by night. We all create different personae for different situations. Turkle also speaks of cycling through MUDs and RL (Holeton 8), this same type ofcycling can be and is done without computers very often; I use the telephone and watch television while at the same time doing my homework (perhaps even thisessay). In the same way as computers, I can only be attentive to one of these things at a time but, I am a presence in them all in a sense. I don’t believe that the decentered self of today’s society is the result of increasing internet and cyberspace use, but a phenomenon that began well before even thetelephone. Just as in a sleeping person’s dreams, the “virtual” information of cyberspace is just that, virtual. We are caught in different identities and personae manytimes everyday, just walking down the street, then entering an office, and finally going home and partying with friends. Most likely we invent different personae todeal with each of these situations in the way we feel most appropriate.

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