Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Newborns in Evolution
- 1 Cyberpsychology Architecture
- 2 Presence: Be Here Now
- 3 The Dynamic Digital Psyche
- 4 The Disinhibited Self
- 5 Electrified Relationships
- 6 Other Than You Think: Interpersonal Perceptions
- 7 Text Talk
- 8 Image Talk
- 9 I, Avatar
- 10 One of Us: Groups and Communities
- 11 Change and Excess
- 12 Addicted or Devoted
- 13 The Digital Deviant
- 14 Synthesized Realities and Synthesized Beings
- 15 Electric Th erapeutics
- Conclusion: Research and the Researcher
- References
- Index
13 - The Digital Deviant
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Newborns in Evolution
- 1 Cyberpsychology Architecture
- 2 Presence: Be Here Now
- 3 The Dynamic Digital Psyche
- 4 The Disinhibited Self
- 5 Electrified Relationships
- 6 Other Than You Think: Interpersonal Perceptions
- 7 Text Talk
- 8 Image Talk
- 9 I, Avatar
- 10 One of Us: Groups and Communities
- 11 Change and Excess
- 12 Addicted or Devoted
- 13 The Digital Deviant
- 14 Synthesized Realities and Synthesized Beings
- 15 Electric Th erapeutics
- Conclusion: Research and the Researcher
- References
- Index
Summary
The internet is not for sissies.
– Paul VixieOne night in Harry's Bar I struck up a conversation with MissTara, a member of the lesbian dominance/submission cult at the Palace. Knowing I was a psychologist doing research, she seemed interested in telling me about her Palace lifestyle. She suggested we go up to one of the bedrooms where she felt more comfortable talking. Once inside, she shut and locked the door behind us. Rather than explaining what she enjoyed about avatars, she decided to give me a firsthand experience. She shape-shifted from one form to another: a topless woman, a naked woman kneeling on the bed, a naked woman tied to the bed. “What do you think?” she asked. I felt rather uncomfortable and awkward. “Well, this is certainly interesting for my research.”
In the beginning, onliners advocated what they called “netiquette.” It was the spirit of preserving cooperation, helpfulness, and trust in all digital realms. Unfortunately, over the years we discovered that if you build it, some people will abuse it. This is a toxic example of the generativity principle, which is how people find ways to use technology unanticipated by its designers (Zittrain, 2009).
The brand of deviance endorsed by a dominance/submission cult will strike some people as abnormal and offensive, while others will simply consider it an alternative sexual lifestyle. As in the real world, aberrant behavior in the digital realm runs the spectrum from mild to severe, depending on who is defining it, whether it hurts anyone, and, if it does hurt people, how much harm it does (see Figure 13.1). Along the way, the cyberpsychological architecture of an environment determines what kinds of deviant behavior are possible.
Since the early days of the Internet, those who lean in the direction of deviance have used cyberspace to surprise, shock, deceive, abuse, or take advantage of other people, often for their own personal gain. In the seminal books about cybercrime (Kirwan & Power, 2013; Sternberg, 2012), researchers described the serious offenses that now proliferate online, including piracy, identity theft, extortion, stalking, hacking, drug dealing, human trafficking, political extremism, illegal and disturbing pornography, vigilantism, and child sex offenses. Hopefully, few of us will find ourselves exposed to these disturbing activities.
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- Information
- Psychology of the Digital AgeHumans Become Electric, pp. 327 - 352Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015