Freedom and social interaction
Fredosor.com
Breaking the chains
When you talk about the chains, what are the chains? The chains - surely - must be the social, economic, cultural, and legal limitations that keep you “within the boundaries”. What boundaries? Mental boundaries (as produced by your own imagination, by your commitment to social and cultural conventions), physical boundaries (your own physical capacities, or those physical barriers that block you form going where you want), economic boundaries (your financial means), legal boundaries (your commitment to laws and – if not – society’s capacity to enforce the laws).
Breaking the chains implies giving yourself freedom to fly (as opposed to “fear of flying”). Freedom to fly means in the first instance liberating your mind with regard to giving content to your dreams. Do you have dreams? Are they something you would wish to make into reality? Or are they just dreams you have which you do not really want to take the trouble of carrying through?
What are the conditions that would have to be fulfilled to realise your dreams? Do you know the obstacles? Do you have an idea of how to overcome them? Do you see the opportunities, and the ways to seize them?
When you talk about the chains, what are the chains? The chains - surely - must be the social, economic, cultural, and legal limitations that keep you “within the boundaries”. What boundaries? Mental boundaries (as produced by your own imagination, by your commitment to social and cultural conventions), physical boundaries (your own physical capacities, or those physical barriers that block you form going where you want), economic boundaries (your financial means), legal boundaries (your commitment to laws and – if not – society’s capacity to enforce the laws).
Breaking the chains implies giving yourself freedom to fly (as opposed to “fear of flying”). Freedom to fly means in the first instance liberating your mind with regard to giving content to your dreams. Do you have dreams? Are they something you would wish to make into reality? Or are they just dreams you have which you do not really want to take the trouble of carrying through?
What are the conditions that would have to be fulfilled to realise your dreams? Do you know the obstacles? Do you have an idea of how to overcome them? Do you see the opportunities, and the ways to seize them?
Solitary navigation in space (virtual life)
Cyberspace is as real to many as the physical space is to others. Many people spend more time acting in cyberspace than in physical space. Cyberspace offers inroads to imaginary worlds where your own imagination can shape the conditions in which you live. It is in this context only in the biological sphere (with the imperatives of your bodily functions) that you encounter necessities which you cannot escape by imaginary life in cyberspace.
Although you cannot physically enter into Cyberspace, there are already many who live their whole mental life in it, and physical life is even replicated through meta-villages where you live as if you lived in a physically real village. Many create their own world, through participation in games, or through the making of imaginary worlds where they create all the elements from scratch.
Social interaction seems to be more intense in Cyberspace than in the physical world, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc, see "Keeping the Dragon at arms length (social interaction in cyberspace)" below.
Facing the Dragon of social interaction in physical life
Social interaction in material, social arenas is complicated. Written and unwritten rules of conduct, social stratifications, codes of communication that blur the content of messages sent or received, psychological filters which guide your behavior and other people’s behavior towards you. These elements, and numerous others, contribute to make social interaction a constant source of anguish to many. To some this anguish is such that they prefer to retreat to solitude or to cyberspace – where these sources of anguish have a lesser grip on them.
In the physical world of social interaction you cannot press the “escape” button (except by way of suicide or total removal from social life as done by buddhist hermits) when you encounter unpleasant situations. Neither can you restart from scratch when you have made monumental errors, as you may do in many games and imaginary worlds in cyberspace. Your actions are noted by others and will be kept in the collective and individual memories, thus influencing the perception of and thereby the effects of your future actions. Cyberspace has a stronger danger in this respect, however. It records everything you do there in minute detail and makes it available to everybody, not only those who have met you directly. In cyberspace, your past actions come back to haunt you in a much more dramatic way than in the social interaction outside of cyberspace (see point 1.1.3). So, even though you can press the escape button in cyberspace and restart your life there when you are in a game, your actions there on homepages or social networks are noted by people in the real world and the traces of your actions in cyberspace are kept on record in cyberspace forever – available to people in the real world whenever they feel like accessing them.
Keeping the Dragon at arms length (social interaction in cyberspace)
The fearsome dragon of direct social interaction leads many people to prefer the social contact they can get through cyberspace. They can in this way get the advantages of social life without its inconveniences. A multitude of arenas for social interaction are created in cyberspace, where physical contact is avoided if so wished. This often creates a more open communication than the one you get face to face (where all the above mentioned barriers are at work). People are less afraid of exposing themselves in cyberspace, often with intimate details they would never reveal face to face. It seems that they imagine that the information they divulge in cyberspace is given in a closed space with no relation to their “outside” life. However, when their private bits of information filter from cyberspace to the arenas of the outside physical space, they often cause dramatic situations for those involved. They may lose their jobs, get stigmatised in their social network or in other ways face unforeseen consequences.
Cyberspace is as real to many as the physical space is to others. Many people spend more time acting in cyberspace than in physical space. Cyberspace offers inroads to imaginary worlds where your own imagination can shape the conditions in which you live. It is in this context only in the biological sphere (with the imperatives of your bodily functions) that you encounter necessities which you cannot escape by imaginary life in cyberspace.
Although you cannot physically enter into Cyberspace, there are already many who live their whole mental life in it, and physical life is even replicated through meta-villages where you live as if you lived in a physically real village. Many create their own world, through participation in games, or through the making of imaginary worlds where they create all the elements from scratch.
Social interaction seems to be more intense in Cyberspace than in the physical world, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc, see "Keeping the Dragon at arms length (social interaction in cyberspace)" below.
Facing the Dragon of social interaction in physical life
Social interaction in material, social arenas is complicated. Written and unwritten rules of conduct, social stratifications, codes of communication that blur the content of messages sent or received, psychological filters which guide your behavior and other people’s behavior towards you. These elements, and numerous others, contribute to make social interaction a constant source of anguish to many. To some this anguish is such that they prefer to retreat to solitude or to cyberspace – where these sources of anguish have a lesser grip on them.
In the physical world of social interaction you cannot press the “escape” button (except by way of suicide or total removal from social life as done by buddhist hermits) when you encounter unpleasant situations. Neither can you restart from scratch when you have made monumental errors, as you may do in many games and imaginary worlds in cyberspace. Your actions are noted by others and will be kept in the collective and individual memories, thus influencing the perception of and thereby the effects of your future actions. Cyberspace has a stronger danger in this respect, however. It records everything you do there in minute detail and makes it available to everybody, not only those who have met you directly. In cyberspace, your past actions come back to haunt you in a much more dramatic way than in the social interaction outside of cyberspace (see point 1.1.3). So, even though you can press the escape button in cyberspace and restart your life there when you are in a game, your actions there on homepages or social networks are noted by people in the real world and the traces of your actions in cyberspace are kept on record in cyberspace forever – available to people in the real world whenever they feel like accessing them.
Keeping the Dragon at arms length (social interaction in cyberspace)
The fearsome dragon of direct social interaction leads many people to prefer the social contact they can get through cyberspace. They can in this way get the advantages of social life without its inconveniences. A multitude of arenas for social interaction are created in cyberspace, where physical contact is avoided if so wished. This often creates a more open communication than the one you get face to face (where all the above mentioned barriers are at work). People are less afraid of exposing themselves in cyberspace, often with intimate details they would never reveal face to face. It seems that they imagine that the information they divulge in cyberspace is given in a closed space with no relation to their “outside” life. However, when their private bits of information filter from cyberspace to the arenas of the outside physical space, they often cause dramatic situations for those involved. They may lose their jobs, get stigmatised in their social network or in other ways face unforeseen consequences.