Gender, power and technology

Power and compulsion on the Internet

   Hackers have been researched through ethnography, and explored in popular culture-in films such as The Matrix and War Games. Recently, the focus of research has changed from studying hackers and their social systems to one of studying 'addicts' whose Internet habits are out of control. The Internet has a number of addictive features: it is highly accessible (given skills, knowledge and available technology), it offers people short-term and long-term rewards, an escape from RL, an illusion of control over the environment, and is a place where the last word is always possible (provided you log off quickly enough). Arguably, the lives of hackers-even given the sense of power and mastery they experience through their prowess-offer examples of a technocultural addiction.

   Patricia Wallace discusses predatory behaviour on the Internet, including the masculine-style, vigilante phenomenon of channel wars and takeovers, where some Internet activity takes on the guise of 'gang warfare'-Web Side Story, perhaps? 'If the owners of a chat channel annoy the wrong people-the ones who can read Websites explaining how to use programs to flood the channel and cause the owners and operators to lose their powers of control-they may find that they have been kicked out and the guerillas own their channel'. A counter-guerrilla vigilante group, IRCarnage, offers redress. If you tell them about your channel, lost to a raiding party, they will attempt to reclaim it for you. They publish a 'braggart's list' of all the channels they have taken over, and offer further evidence of the Internet as a technocultural site for exploring masculine solutions to issues of power, control and mastery.

   Kimberley Young, who approached Internet addiction as if it shared addictive characteristics with gambling, researched users who did, and didn't, feel in control of their Internet habits. Most users who felt their Internet habit was beyond control were logged on to chat rooms and MUDs. As one of Young's contributors commented: 'MUDs are like a religion to me, and I am a god there. I am respected by all the other MUDders. I know that I am playing against other highly intelligent people, and ... getting stronger at the game gives me a great high'. While hacking is an almost exclusively masculine culture, however, other forms of Internet addiction are more likely to affect women, particularly in the social sphere: online community, and one-to-one online relationships.

   Internet addiction has spurred the development of a number of online self-other-help resources including COLA, the Center for Online Addiction. A variety of comment and resources are available at the personal website of American academic and online psychotherapist Storm King. Further, the Website a range of mental health issues and links to other relevant Websites (including COLA and Storm King's). Online cyberpsychology professionals actively advocate and support the healthy use of ICTs, and a balanced integration of RL/VL.

   The existence of addictive behaviours online, however, does not necessarily make the Internet a dangerous place to be. As Storm King asks in an article on his Website (above): 'Is the Internet addictive, or are addicts using the Internet?' Nonetheless, the results of research studies are beginning to come in and Suler (1996) and Kraut et al. (1998) indicate that extensive Internet use is not necessarily beneficial to an individual's RL, or to their health, psyche, financial and general well-being.

Menu

Partners

© Opabo.com /Design by Felicia Mehl/