Online Disinhibition Phenomenon

 

With the rise, development, and use of social media in the last 50 years video games and the act of gaming has developed a significant social component along with it. From arcade games in the early 70’s, to the jump in popularity of cartridge games through to the 2000’s, and finally computer videogames in the 2010’s, video gaming has always been social. Now, with social media companies such as Twitch and TikTok, allowing content creators to stream their gaming experiences, gaming has become even closer to what many people consider a form of social media.

Here is my proof.

Are you going to argue with google? Didn’t think so.

With the integration of the internet into gaming in the early 90’s it allowed, in the beginning, people from the same neighborhoods, schools, and cities to communicate more often with each other daily than they might have without it. In addition to that in the early 2000’s companies such as Xbox and Sony integrated voice chatting services into their console systems. Because of this, players were able to communicate with each other even further and more often. This turned the social aspect of videogames into something, John Suler, would consider cyberspace communication. Meaning, people, software, networks, devices, they’re all connecting in this same space, online.

Because of this, John here:

Decided to explore the phenomenon he called Online Disinhibition Effect, which could explain why some people self-disclose, or act out more frequently or intensely online than they would in person. He states there are at least 6 factors that react and interact with each other to cause the online disinhibition effect to occur. There are two ways this effect can occur. There’s benign disinhibition, which is when someone shares personal feelings, emotions, secrets, and wishes. They show unusual acts of kindness and generosity usually going out of their way to do so.  Then there’s toxic disinhibition, where someone comes off as angry, full of hate, they use rude language, harsh criticisms and sometimes even threats. They also tend to visit and explore the darker parts of the internet. Keep in mind that these are things they would not normally do in real-life situations.

Although the six factors he explores are all interconnected and, as he states complex and ambiguous, two of them, a lot of the time, can describe why these disinhibitions occur. I’m going to try my best to describe 2 of them, and if you want to read all six of them you can check it out yourself.

Shifts Among Intrapsychic Constellations- is the factor described as unlocking true needs and emotions. For instance, a woman with unresolved anger may lash out online, she may be unapproachable in terms of online communication. When approached or addressed she may be dismissive and rude, even hostile. Or a man who is normally soft spoken and non-confrontational may come out of his shell and confess romantic feelings for someone he met online. This factor is inspired by Sigmund Freuds’ model of the mind, which states that personality structure is layered, and that true self is protected by layers or walls that people put up because of everyday social interactions. Suler believes that because people often state that they’re able to be their “true self” online that this reinforces this concept.

Dissociative Anonymity- is the factor that explains being completely anonymous online, aside from a username, and it could explain why a woman with unaddressed anger issues feels safe enough to lash out, threaten, and become hostile to those she comes in contact with online. It also could explain why a man who is normally non-confrontational may feel brave enough to confess his feelings online. Suler says that this is one of the principles that determines the disinhibition effect because when people are able to separate their online actions or personality from their in real life identity without fear of punishment or fear of being vulnerable, they self-disclose or act out.

Its 3am and this is starting to feel like a lit review and not a blog!

The 6 factors Suler explores gives some type of idea as to why toxic or benign behaviors occur online. One of his main points however, states, that although these factors have the possibility to explain a reasoning behind these behaviors that individual personalities and predispositions tend to play a more centralized part. For example, someone with a compulsive personality may be more restrained with how they behave online when faced with one factor but when faced with different factor it may slightly change or drastically change how they act in response to it.

There’s been previous research done and there’s been prior research done to explain why toxic and benign behaviors occur online, but the way Suler is looking at it explores a type of complexity in the way people communicate online and explores the types of factors personality, anonymity, and disassociation have on communicating online.