16 APR 2018 by ideonexus
Teens Need a Psychological Moratorium
She remembered psychologist Erik Erickson's exhortation about teenagers: they need a "psychosocial moratorium," he wrote, an environment and a stretch of time in which they can explore different aspects of their personality and try on a series of identities without fear of consequence. In a way, that was what school was supposed to offer, but it didn't always do so with much success. She realized that this was exactly what virtual worlds offered all the time, to anyone with a computer and an ... 1 
notes
notesA time when they can find their identity.
20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Explosion of Sub-Cults
The techno-societies, far from being drab and homogenized, are honeycombed with just
such colorful groupings—hippies and hot rodders, theosophists and flying saucer fans, skindivers
and skydivers, homosexuals, computerniks, vegetarians, bodybuilders and Black
Muslims.
Today the hammerblows of the super-industrial revolution are literally splintering the
society. We are multiplying these social enclaves, tribes and minicults among us almost as
fast as we are multiplying automotive options. ... 1 notes
notesWe can see this phenomenon in online cultures, but I like how this passage ties it into the issue of personal identity. The cults/fandoms we choose are also a choice about how we are defining ourselves.
01 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
Legal Perspective of "Semiotic Democracy"
"Cultural populists," . . . generally view popular culture as contested terrain in which individuals and groups (racial, ethnic, gender, class, etc.) struggle, albeit on unequal terms, to make and establish their own meanings and identities. As the populists see things, the consumers of cultural commodities (movies, songs, fashions, television programs, etc.) neither uniformly receive nor uncritically accept the "preferred meanings" that are generated and circulated by the culture industry. T... 1 notes
notesAlso a way of saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," in that entertainers have no control over how the viewer reinterprets their work.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
All Technology is Social Engineering
Stanford University researcher Jeremy Bailenson has demonstrated that changing the height of one’s avatar in immersive virtual reality transforms self-esteem and social self-perception. Technologies are extensions of ourselves, and, like the avatars in Jeremy’s lab, our identities can be shifted by the quirks of gadgets. It is impossible to work with information technology without also engaging in social engineering.
[...]
When developers of digital technologies design a program that re... 1 notes
notesWhen a developer designs an interface for a user to interact with a computer, they imply you are a program. When they put up a wiki, they suggest humans ultimately have a single point of view.
