Psychology of the Internet: research and theory

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (1998), "Psychology of the Internet: research and theory", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.06727eag.001

Psychology of the Internet: research and theory

Keywords: Cybernetics, Internet, Millennium compliance, On-line relationships, Psychology

Psychology of the Internet: research and theory

This is the full name of the list that has been denoted by "research". Attention is given to the feelings and reactions of users while on-line. One aspect is the formation of on-line relationships of various kinds, including romantic liaisons and others for professional or academic collaboration, and the growth of on-line or virtual communities.

Home on the Web

The word "home" is used in the context of "home pages" as well as colloquially in saying that somebody feels "at home" while on-line. The meaning of "home" is discussed in a series of contributions to this list, starting with one on 2 March 1997. Home is characterised by feelings of security, privacy, and freedom to arrange one's own environment, and to entertain friends. There appears to be general agreement that all these things can be experienced on-line, and that such experience does not preclude a parallel home in RL (real life).

In the homely virtual environment on-line relationships can flourish, and many contributions discuss the value of such relationships. A very sweet communication on 26 November 1997 is from a married couple whose courtship was mainly on-line over 13 months and generated 20 megabytes of archived exchanges to reminisce over.

A contributor to the cyberspace-and-society list (6 June 1997) points out that there are virtual communities in existence that actually "click", consisting of groups of people who feel a bond and who collaborate in some way with only Internet connection. A group called the Apache Hackers Collaboration is quoted as an example. The two people who produce the Internet Tourbus, Bob Rankin and Patrick Crispen, can be quoted as a further example (not from the list contribution) since it is mentioned in a recent Tourbus that they have never met face-to-face but have collaborated on-line.

There are also facilities specially devised to accommodate VCs (virtual communities), and this opens up a new and intriguing range of possibilities. The acronyms MUD and MOO are used freely by many contributors and are fortunately expanded in a contribution by Alan Jen Sondheim to the "research" list on 7 March 1997, and a very helpful review is in a contribution by Chris Barney to the cyberspace-and-society list on 26 March 1997.

The acronym MUD stands for "Multi-User Domain", and MOO means the same but object-oriented. A special variety referred to as an lpmud (in lower-case), is a "Lars Penski MUD" which can also be termed a "Multi-User Dungeon" and refers to a text-based virtual-reality game. The technology is well established, and the group of symbols @dig is the command for home creation in a MOO. New "rooms" in a MOO can be created by users, and other features can be added, and remain effective whether or not the originator is on-line. Features that can be created include "objects" and "verbs", the latter being programs that act on the rooms, objects and/or users.

A MOO has an administrator termed a "wizard", and according to Barney some wizards like to "play God" and to shape the MOO according to their own ideas, while others are prepared to let most of the innovations come from users. Since the features added by a user remain effective even if the user has left the MOO permanently, the wizard has to "clean the house" occasionally.

The contribution by Chris Barney is very useful. He presents for comment a paper he has written with the title: "Virtual community technology: the MOO and Pueblo/Tribe". He describes MOO technology, which has existed for about five years. Some MOOs have existed for the whole of that time. The technology is slowly being replaced by advanced versions that can be seen as its direct descendants. A major step is the combination of MOO principles with VRML, or Virtual Reality Markup Language, so that objects, rooms and users can be given (virtual) shape, colour, etc. and can be seen, heard, perhaps felt, and manipulated.

The terms Pueblo and Tribe refer to a commercially-available implementation of such a scheme. The "Tribe" part is the central software including the database in which details of the rooms, objects, etc. will be stored, and an Internet server. The "Pueblo" part is the client software needed to access "Tribe" as a user. It is mentioned that the Pueblo software can be downloaded free of charge, so participation in the scheme is open to anyone with a suitable multi-media computer. Since virtual reality is involved the requirements for processor and modem speeds, and for storage, are likely to be formidable by present-day standards, though perhaps no more than will be commonplace in a few years' time. The possibilities are somewhat mind-boggling.

Internet addiction disorder

A great deal of attention has been given, in the "research" list, to the possibility of an Internet addiction disorder or IAD. On the whole the idea has been received with scepticism, with reference to "addiction addiction" and undue readiness of therapists to find outlets for their services. The term IAD was originated as a joke, but was invoked in connection with a serious incident relayed in a communication to the list on 18 June 1997. According to a newspaper report, a mother of three children, aged five, three and two, was charged with keeping them locked in a playroom while she spent up to 12 hours a day at her computer. A psychologist commented that the case had all the marks of IAD.

Curiously, when most of the interest in IAD had died away, it was revived by two almost simultaneous requests for information on it. They were both from the South American continent (from Argentina and Brazil) but were apparently unrelated, as remarked in a communication to the list on 1 December 1997. The occurence sparked a new wave of controversy in the list, most of it sceptical, but it appears that treatment for IAD is offered by some therapists, and one contributor (2 December 1997) gives a bibliography of eight items including a forthcoming book with the title: Caught in the Web: How to Recognise and Recover from Internet Addiction.

Methodology

Many of the communications to the list refer to research methods, and particularly to surveys conducted over the net. Such surveys are a convenient way to do research, with the results delivered right to the researcher's desktop. It is remarked by one contributor that this may be an expendible resource, since it is likely to be overused and to make people feel the same about Internet surveys as most already do about those made by telephone.

Other questions raised by the use of such surveys refer to the extent to which the sample is biased by the method, and to the reliability of the information returned. The matter of sample bias applies to any survey method depending on voluntary responses, and there are known ways of compensating, though it is possible that the statistical data needed for this are less complete for Internet surveys than for older methods.

In connection with the question of reliability of the information returned, a contributor named Storm A. King pointed out that for much of it there is no possible check, for example on the stated gender of the responder. To illustrate the point, he/she invited speculation (21 November 1997) about his/her gender.

In fact, avid followers of the list discussions will know that Storm A. King is male from his communication of 9 July 1997, where he mentions that his wife had had a child (unless he/she was then laying a smokescreen to confuse the issue). However, the point he makes is valid since there seems to be no way of determining the gender of a responder who wants to conceal or disguise it. Much discussion in the list bears on such methodology-related issues.

The cybernetic communications discussion group list

This list, usually given the shorter name CYBCOM is of particular interest. An interesting discussion that began shortly after I joined was on Knowledge Loss Mechanisms, begun by a comment on 15 September 1997 that theories focus on the accumulation of knowledge, but processes by which it is lost should also be studied. "Knowledge" is, by most definitions, useful for surviving and operating in the current environment, so it is arguable that its loss can be due to a change in the environment rather than in the knower.

In the discussion in the list, Stuart Umpleby quotes a remark by Ross Ashby to the effect that natural selection can lead to species extinction as well as to adaptation, because a high degree of adaptation to a particular state of the environment may be fatal if the environment changes. Another contributor refers to a relevant paper by Heinz von Foerster, and two others refer to papers of their own discussing the importance of forgetting. The discussions are well-informed and useful.

The year 2000 problem

A topic that receives serious attention in this list is the consequences of the expected computer disruption in the year 2000. An initial comment is by Stuart Umpleby on 17 November 1997, and on the same date there is a long paper spelling out the likely consequences, with the title: "Blind man's buff in the year 2000". It is claimed, with data and arguments to back it up, that the West is facing "a breakdown comparable to the fall of Rome or the demise of medieval society".

This extreme view is apparently accepted by Umpleby and others who have studied the matter. Since computers interact, one or a few that are not "compliant" (i.e. able to operate correctly over the transition) can wreak havoc in financial and administrative systems. The current estimate is that 15 to 50 per cent of computers will not be compliant when the year 2000 comes.

In a further contribution (18 November 1997), Umpleby says: "I find it an absolutely fascinating problem to contemplate, a cornucopia of intriguing puzzles for a systems thinker, particularly one with a macabre sense of humor. There is a human dimension ­ denial, guilt, blame, fear, panic, courage, self-sacrifice (late hours, no vacations), etc. The law of requisite variety is at the heart of the problem ­ not enough programmers, not enough time. Think of society as a self-organizing system: remove 15 to 50 per cent of computers ... what happens in the society?"

Practical advice that is given to individuals is to have as much important information in "hard copy" as possible ­ bank accounts, insurances, pension documents, and so on. It all sounds alarmist, but the facts and arguments are there in the CYBCOM list to back it up.

Alex M. Andrew