IDENTITY IN CYBERSPACE

Literary Herald, 2019

Identity is an ambiguous term which has been used in many different context and purposes in recent years. The fundamental paradox of identity is in its meaning in Latin itself. The term in Latin root ‗idem', meaning-the same,‖ nevertheless implies both similarity and difference. Our identity is unique in one sense that it is what distinguishes us from other people. Yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind like national identity, gender identity, or cultural identity, for example, we imply that our identity is partly a matter of what we share with other people in a society. The need for love and care is a basic need in human life. As people cannot get them easily in real world in the myriad of chaos and pretension, they travel to the virtual reality to have their needs fulfilled. The emotions and feelings one feel in the virtual world is as real as a human being can express and feel. This sense of gratification which human beings get from the virtual world becomes an addiction as time passes. But is it right or wrong to get that sense of gratification from a reality that does not exist? This paper attempts to address the issues created by mass media among the citizen of modern world.

Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 1997

Does it make sense to talk about cyberspace as an alternative social reality? Is cyberspace the new frontier for the realization of the postmodern self? For philosophers Taylor and Saarinen, and the psychologist Turkle cyberspace is the practical manifestation of a postmodern reality, or rather hyperreality (Baudrillard). In hyperreal cyberspace, they argue, identity becomes plastic, 'I can change my self as easily as I change my clothes.' I will argue using Martin Heidegger that our being is being-in-the-world. To be-in-the-world means to be involved in the world; to have an involvement whole that is the always already present significance of what I do. Furthermore, that the making or choosing of self is only existentially meaningful in a horizon of significance, an involvement whole. I will argue that identity is tied to community, and community involves accepting some level of already there thrownness. Every cyber-traveler will eventually have to deal with the fact of being, always already, in-the-world.

2010

Does it make sense to talk about cyberspace as an alternative social reality? Is cyberspace the new frontier for the realization of the postmodern self? For philosophers Taylor and Saarinen, and the psychologist Turkle cyberspace is the practical manifestation of a postmodern reality, or rather hyperreality (Baudrillard). In hyperreal cyberspace, they argue, identity becomes plastic, ‘I can change my self as easily as I change my clothes. ’ I will argue using Martin Heidegger that our being is being-in-the-world. To be-in-the-world means to be involved in the world; to have an involvement whole that is the always already present significance of what I do. Furthermore, that the making or choosing of self is only existentially meaningful in a horizon of significance, an involvement whole. I will argue that identity is tied to community, and community involves accepting some level of already there thrownness. Every cyber-traveler will eventually have to deal with the fact of being, alw...

2007

With the emergence and popularity of online social networking technologies (Web 2.0) students are exploring new concepts of self, identity and community both in real and virtual spaces. New theories are necessary to develop social policy responses, including those of educational systems and institutions, to the consequences of these new conceptualisations. We present an original theoretical model, the 3V model, to assist in the interpretation of existing theory, illustrated through an exploration of higher education students' concept of identity in the interface between the 'real' and 'virtual' worlds. We wish to explore whether the theoretical and methodological instruments available within the broader Social Sciences are adequate to examine emerging notions of identity. We adopt one well established anthropological instrument for identifying generalised value differences within contemporary cultural settings, the Kluckhohn -Strodbeck Value Orientation Preference Model, and apply it to both real-world and virtual-world personas within a single sample. Our emergent theoretical model outlines a set of complex assumptions concerning the concept of the "real-virtual" interface; it presents an internal structure to this realm and provides a framework for further empirical study.

Fragmented Selves: Identity, Consciousness and Reality in the Digital Age, 2024

In the digital age, the concept of identity has evolved in ways that challenge long-held philosophical assumptions about the self. No longer has fixed or continuous, identity become fragmented, shaped by multiple digital personas that people craft in response to the ever-expanding digital universe. Now, there is no sense of a fixed self that remains constant throughout space and time. Self and identity can be seen as a Heraclitean flux always in a state of becoming and never for a moment being in a state of being. The boundaries between the real and the virtual have blurred, and hyperreal experiences now often seem more significant than actual events. This review delves into the complex relationship between selfhood and digital representation, exploring how traditional theories like Baudrillard's hyperreality and Buddhist notions of impermanence help explain this transformation. It examines the implications of digital simulations, especially in the context of digital immortality, which raises profound questions about consciousness, existence, and the essence of being. In a world where avatars, social media profiles, and virtual realities dominate, self-navigates an uncertain terrain between reality and simulation. This study is an exploration of the evolving nature of identity, consciousness, and human experience in the age of digital fragmentation, with a focus on the philosophical and psychological dimensions of selfhood in the modern, digitized world.

Understanding identity requires understanding the communities to which we belong; virtual communities are increasingly relevant to our personal identity. While many point to alleged differences of behavior and presentation online, these are not as great as first appear; characteristics which encourage antisocial behavior online do so offline as well. Furthermore, while deception and alteration of identity are possible online, they are difficult to sustain and rooted in our understanding of physical identities. Thus while there is space between our physical and virtual representations, the two are not sharply separated. Anonymity is often used to argue for such a separation, however while there is sufficient anonymity to allow for deceptive portrayals online, it is harder to attain than most realize. I discuss ways of piercing anonymity online and possible future ramifications of our increasing ability to do so. Less anonymity will likely lead to greater responsibility for our online actions, but it also will diminish our ability to use virtual worlds for identity experimentation. I discuss positive and negative effects of the increasing connection between virtual and physical identities.

2018

Historically speaking, legal fiction assumes that identity and the credentials proving identity are one and the same. It is an important fiction that allows us to access information associated with our identity and restrict others from doing the same. Crimes of identity theft are commonly manifested through the usurpation of one's credentials to falsely verify identity. Legal doctrine such as agency theory makes the assumption that identity and credentials are only transferrable together. Technology, especially the Internet, alters this fiction by allowing the creation of multiple credentials that enable access to multiple identities manifested throughout the world. The one-to-one relationship between credentials and identity is severed, thus making existing legal analogies insufficient in the virtual world. A number of these issues can be obviated by restructuring the legal fiction to embrace separate and distinct credentials and identities. This paper will discuss how the two-...

The spread of social networking media on the Internet has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s world. Furthermore, it has opened a plethora of philosophical problems. One such problem concerns the notion of personal identity. Social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on, allow for powerful ways for one person to get connected with others in a variety of ways. The connection is always mediated by some kind of construction of “identity” which more or less represent the real person behind it. The construction is also known as an “avatar,” a term borrowed from ancient Indian mythology where gods assume the body of a mortal being (which can be either humans or non-human animals) in order to combat and defeat problems that beset the world. In social networking websites, such avatars are made possible through the use of images and texts that are related to the person through the means of email addresses and passwords. The use of avatars has raised many interesting conceptual and normative problems. First of all, it is always possible for one person to have more than one avatars. In fact this is a common practice. But if avatars represent the identity of persons (in the same way as a divine avatar ‘embodies’ a god in the ancient myths), then in the case of multiple avatars do these avatars all represent the person equally? One strong belief in personal identity is that a person should be unique, but what does the existence of multiple avatars tell us? Is this a case of a psychological or even a pathological condition? Another problem concerns how well an avatar reflects the actual personality of the person behind it. In the ancient myths, once a god adopts an avatar, such as when the god Vishnu assumes the body of a turtle, then he needs to move about like a turtle. But no one believes that Vishnu has actually become a turtle. Is this the same as modern avatars online? Or is it more the case that avatars tend to assume their own unique personalities which could diverse from that of the real person? The findings of the research are that there are no essential differences between the online and the “offline” selves; any problems that lie with the self in the offline world are still there in the online version. Personal identity, a difficult philosophical problem that seeks to account for the identity of a self or a person, is still a problem in the online world too. This has strong implications in understanding the online self and the use of avatars and attempts at constructing a self image in social networking sites. It shows that the two worlds are merging into one. This research, in short, aims at proposing a number of philosophical issues behind the construction of avatars or online identities on social networking media and propose that insights gained from the ancient wisdom of Buddhism could illuminate at least some of the perplexities behind the phenomena. As is well known, a key Buddhist teaching is that of the Non-Self, i.e., the self as we understand it, as the seat of personality, as the subject of thoughts, emotions, and so on, are in the last analysis nothing more than a construction. So Buddhism seems to say that there is as a matter of fact no real distinction between avatars and persons. But if that is the case (and I will try to present an argument showing why it is so), then a number of interesting questions emerge. The report will discuss these questions with the aim of trying to understand what is really happening with the situation of online identity through the social networking media.

AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, 2018

The construction of personality and its development through time is influenced by many factors, and as particularly important from the aspect of this essay, we would stress the social factor as well as the influence of digital space and existence: the participation of the individual in the digital world. The emergence of new technologies and the acceleration of the pace of life significantly contributes to the construction of identities in digital space, based on a number of influences, such as: the possibility of a 'second life' , i.e. different presentation of oneself (of life) at the virtual level, an increase of social desirability, changing the perception of oneself and access to new acquaintances and experiences, and knowledge and information and selection of personal data. Digital identity opens the possibility of abuse and consequences. These include the circumstances of insufficient protection of privacy, discovery and illegal use of permanently memorized data in meta-media society and digital space, especially on social networks, and the possibility of manipulating and controlling the identity of another as well as the possibility of placement multiple identities, which brings questions the legitimacy of data. In addition to the fact that digital space has opened up possibilities for changing the way of life in all spheres, it seems that the most pronounced influence (both at the level of quality and quantity) is particularly visible on the changes in the design of the personal identity of the individual.