Is There a Separation Between Virtual and Physical Reality?

We recently were assigned to read an article called A Rape In Cyberspace by Julian Dibbell. The discussion we had about it in class was one of the most engaging I have ever been involved in. I have very strong feelings on the subject and it seemed that others did too.  Though the views were from two different viewpoints.

The article was about a woman who participated in an early online community called lambdaMOO, where people created online people and would interact with each other. A man made his character overpower the woman's character and raped it online with his commands. Now obviously this guy has some mental issues but that is not the subject of this blog. The discussion that spurned from this article is does that incident count as a real rape? The arguments made in favor of that included that psychologically it may have a very traumatizing affect on a person since she was unable to control her character,  she was not in control of the situation which is similar to a real rape. And also that some people are so connected with their identity in these online communities that she may feel as though it really happened, and feel ashamed to walk the halls of that online community again. 

Now the part that I cannot accept is the argument that there is no separation from virtual and physical reality. If people cannot make this veery important distinction then that will have a very negative affect on interpersonal relationships in my opinion. Now I do not want to be insensitive to this woman's trauma or anyone else who have had negative experiences online, but I do believe that they just need someone to help them understand the difference between virtual and physical reality. That woman did not get raped! And it is absurd to even compare the virtual rape to a physical one. I would even go as far as saying it is disrespectful to women who have been physically raped to compare it to an online rape. If she understood the difference between virtual reality and physical reality she could have turned her computer off and gone about her day. It would be normal to feel unpleasant afterward but not to be extremely traumatized by the experience. It also happens to be the best solution to the problem. As we discussed in class there is really no way to punish or stop the man for what he did.  The only way to deal with it is to take away his power by not giving him power to hurt you. 

It may be getting more difficult to see the separation of virtual and physical reality now as the world is getting more and more digital. Much more time is spent online talking to friends, making new friends, finding out the news, even watching and discussing television shows. But even though the gap is closing there will ALWAYS be a separation between virtual life and physical life and it is so important that everyone knows this. The internet is a convenience, not a necessity. People lived without it for thousands of years, and if it somehow crashed forever tomorrow the world would adjust. 

What interpersonal communication problems will arise if people cannot separate virtual and physical reality? Well my professor answered that question with a story she told us in class. Apparently two men were sitting next to each other playing a computer game. One man physically stabbed the other, and his reason was he was defending himself because the other man was trying to steal a sword from him on the game. Now when she told this story most everyone had the same reaction, that it was completely ridiculous. And anyone who can separate virtual and physical reality would have the same reaction. But imagine that the majority of the world could not separate the two, what would the consequences of this view be? In that situation the man who stabbed the other man would not have been charged with assault, because he was just defending himself. Isn't that just what this world needs, a bunch of people stabbing each other over a video game?

What Effect Has Media Convergence Had On Interpersonal Relationships?

All the first thoughts that come to my mind when it comes to media convergence are positive. In The article "The Cultural logic of media convergence" author Henry Jenkins paints a very clear picture of what media convergence is by giving several examples. One example that he gave felt as though he had been observing me personally for my entire college career. He wrote "A teenager doing homework may juggle four or five windows, scanning the web, listening to and downloading MP3 files, chatting with friends, wordprocessing a paper and responding to email, shifting rapidly between tasks." This describes my life so well, I just did not realize how common of a thing it was. A few years ago when I would be doing my homework online late at night and had my myspace page open people would seem shocked when I said I was doing my homework, as if they did not think it was normal to multitask. But over time I have seen it become more and more common among my friends. In fact it has reached the point where almost all of my friends I talk to on facebook are doing homework or are at work at the time. This has made it so we are still able to socialize with our friends and family while doing activities such as work and school, which before this new technology was not possible. Now there may be an argument to be made that our productivity has gone done because of this, but I feel this would most likely come from the older generation who have not embraced new media technology. In my estimation I would assume that as the younger generation grows and becomes managers of large companies that they will not feel as threatened by people multitasking at work (talking to friends and family online, listening to music etc.) I believe it is the way the culture is going, we are converting to total convergence. 

Another positive thing I have found with media convergence is how technology has enhanced today's cell phones. Jenkins talks about how you can now listen to a music group on a phone, on the radio, on the computer, on tv etc. I remember years ago when I first got a cell phone wishing there was a technology to actually send my friends clips of funny tv shows that we had as inside jokes instead of only being able to text quotes. Now that is possible, and much more than I even thought would be possible all inside of a phone. But these new media technologies things definitely have enhanced my personal relationships.