According to Wikipedia, the term Web 2.0 is defined as second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.
What are the potential psychological effects of Web 2.0?
Viewpoint 1
As far as the positives and negatives go, it depends on a person's already natural tendencies. The web is another avenue to enhance what drives a person. The possibilities you can reach are extraordinary, though.
There are some benefits: you have easy access to people's thoughts and ideas. Previously, a person mainly had access to people because of proximity. You knew the people because you wanted to and they were close, which leads to being around people with similar viewpoints. Now you can access a variety of people who are anywhere and have different backgrounds. This can potentially make someone more knowledgeable, more open-minded, and more tolerant. Factors of race, gender, and class can be eliminated. Access to even more information allows a person to become an "expert" on any desired subject.
Downfalls are addiction--not just obsessively checking facebook all day. When it impacts one's success and productivity, it can be a big disadvantage. Also, human to human contact should not be replaced. This is why solitary confinement is a punishment in prison and why Tom Hanks in Cast Away had to create Wilson. I wonder if someone in solitary had Internet access, at least, would the punishment be as effective? It is human contact, though somewhat artificial.
Viewpoint 2
There is also an issue of privacy. Most of us try not to let our personal information get into anyone else's hands. For some reason, we don't think too much about privacy issues when it comes to social networking sites and blogs. There is something about these that makes it feel safe to share our information with the public. There is something relieving about being able to share our thoughts and opinions in an open venue like the web, and something about us that wants people to get to know us even if we're not involved in the conversation.
Comments (2)
Anonymous said
at 8:30 am on Dec 15, 2007
Graduate students quoting Wikipedia? 8-O
Anonymous said
at 8:38 am on Dec 15, 2007
Just wondering, what is so addicting about these formats?
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