You know, I’m actually surprised that we, as a class, were…. surprised, at some of the things we saw on the popular online social game “Second Life”. Human beings have a very unique ability to express some very deviant/peculiar/odd tendencies and ideas. The only thing that changes is the medium.
For example, look at language. We can recite heart-felt poems or come up with the most disastrous harmful slurs. The written world is likewise. Human literature is filled with incredible masterpieces to unimaginable filth. Any ICT technology, especially the internet, is just that new medium. For every well-thought, academic, compelling website, you’ll find another highlighting some of the most bizzare fetishes I have ever come across.
It’s just all about extremism. There is a boundary, perhaps arbitrarily defined, that people cross. A line that separates “healthy interaction” to “obsession”. The responsibility for this I think likes in the individual. It is a fallacy to blame the medium. We have to look beyond the screen, at the user, to determine a healthy or unhealthy utilization of technology.
