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Culture of the Internet

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  • 12-06-2015 2:37pm
    #1
    Samaris
    Registered Users Posts: 6,544 ✭✭✭


    The culture of the internet is something I find very interesting. The main element of the internet and communication through it is anonymity, yet privacy is steadily eroding - look at Facebook, and how we have created a culture of taking "selfies", to connect a physical real-world presence to add to this persona we cultivate online.

    The internet hasn't really got any cultures, but it is rather divided by language, and the more speakers, the more internet is devoted to that sector. Although in the English-speaking part, I don't think it's deniable that American views and values are slowly taking over, just from the sheer amount of English-speaking Americans that post.

    The internet has no borders, so we create our own borders by finding places that appeal to us most in subject, in views, in interests, in approach. Then there are are the "other" places that we don't want to go or to know about - the darknet ("You must never go there, Simba"!), various subreddits, etc., etc.

    The internet has no rules, so we've created our own, both in terms of "crime and punishment" and smaller manners-based social norms - caps is shouting is something that wouldn't have been considered anything before internet communication became so big. Txtspk is childish (or rather, something associated with teenagers). And "laws" have been developed for things that could not have been conceived before computers became so widely used. Crimes against "property" (not to mention definitions of intangible "property"!)- hacking, pirating. Crimes against the person - including ones that are strictly limited to one site - "fraping" "cyberbullying".

    The world is much smaller, but also much more threatening, as we are bombarded with news from all over the world constantly.

    I suppose what I am getting at is that the internet has changed the world, and we have adapted to it. What are people's thoughts as to the huge changes the internet has made to their lives, and how they think and interact with others? What ethical and moral codes have you taken up on the net that it wouldn't have occurred to you to consider beforehand? Is the world a better or a worse place for it?


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