So, What is Cyber Disinhibition? It refers to a loosening (or complete abandonment) of social restrictions and inhibitions that would otherwise be present in normal face-to-face interaction during interactions with others on the Internet. Without inhibition, people may become more willing to comment and more offensive.
Sometimes, when I was reading news through some websites, I always found people arguing in the comment below. A group of people holding one opinion attacked others with different thoughts with violent words. This situation sometimes even worse. People who participated in the argument may not care what the argument is really about. They just want to curse as they cannot do in their real life. Why are these unusual behavior happen? What's behind these phenomenon?
ANONYMITY. You don't know me and you can't see me. We can comment in the forum by a pseudo name or account. We register these accounts only by email address meaning that you can not track the real persons behind these accounts. Without worried about punishment and reprisal, people become more brave. They don't have to control their emotions and be responsible for their words as in the face-to-face interaction.
ASYNCHRONICITY. In online networks, people not always communicate in real time. For instance, when we make blog comment, the blog writer may see your comment within several minutes or after several days. This asynchronous nature also provides people courage to speak negative words.
Due to these characters, a group of people called the Internet Ghost Writers or the Army of Water appears in the internet.
The Cyber Disinhibition seems to leading a bad tendency in online networks. How can we solve the negative impact it brings to us? Obviously, it needs us to control our emotion and behavior when surfing the internet. To purify the online environment, it still a long way to go and it requires the efforts of everyone.
REFERENCE:
- online disinhibition effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_disinhibition_effect
