THE INTERNET CAN’T REPLACE REAL CONVERSATIONS...or can it? Some psychologists believe “that the discovery of the true self is an essential part of therapy. To achieve personal satisfaction, a person has to be able to express his/her real self in social interaction and receive SOCIAL RECOGNITION for it (Amichai-Hamburger). So how would a person who isnt very good at talking to others be able to discover his or her true self and achieve personal satisfaction? A number of psychologists did a study to see how someone’s true self might tie into interaction on the internet. The researchers gave participants a personality test to determine if they had extroverted or introverted tendencies, and then gave them a short questionnaire about how they feel about different social situations on- and off-line. This is what they found: “Introverts locate their “real me” on the Internet, while extroverts locate their “real me” through traditional social interaction. ... It would appear that the social services provided on the Internet, with their anonymity, lack of need to reveal physical appearance, rigid control of information revealed in the interaction, and the ease with which it is possible to find like-minded people, provide an excellent answer to people who experience great difficulty in forming social contacts due to their introverted personality. ... However, our results indicate that, for introverts...the Internet can play a vital role in providing the opportunity to express their “real me.” The expression of the “real me” is not a minor aspect of life but a very crucial one. People who can’t express their “real me” are prone to suffer from serious psychological disorders.” So, there you have it. Perhaps the internet can be more vital to someones social well-being than we give it credit for.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 03:27:34 +0000