This topic found itself not by chance. I have been on the Internet for many years, so this question is a study of an experienced user. My life was flowing, if not smoothly, then without unnecessary emotional overload until friends, with whom life had scattered us across different countries and continents, tearfully asked me to buy a personal computer.
They knew very well that I was a master of applied arts, that all the “electronics” literally “hang” on me, but they were confident in my mental abilities. In the sense that I would quickly master the Internet. I must give credit to the guys, I justified their hopes 101%. Now I look with irony, sometimes bitter, at all the emotional torment that I subjected myself to.
I don’t think that I’m the only one concerned about this topic, which is why I’m writing this article.
Let's get back to interactive communication. My friends have two new “fashionable bonuses” – the social virtual network “VKontakte”, where they invited me, and “Odnoklassniki”, where I categorically did not go. I am an artist by profession, and intuitively I was not satisfied with the interface of “Odnoklassniki” from the very beginning. It turned out that appearance always matters to me.
There is no point in explaining that a social network is a huge virtual space where serious passions “boil”, sometimes destroying the psyche. I am an open and straightforward person. And most importantly, I still can't get my head around the fact that there is such a definition as a “virtual friend”. For me, a FRIEND is a friend everywhere and always. It turned out that there are quite a lot of people who perceive the world from this angle. And that's when my problems began.
So what is virtual communication? People's opinions are divided into two parts: conditional and unconditional. Moreover, both parts are relative, and they depend only on the subjective perception of virtual space by an individual.
When going online, a person has the right to take a “nickname”. In my opinion, this is the very first step that removes all inhibitions. Users suddenly remove all possible prohibitions from themselves, hiding behind a “nickname”. As my friends say: “In real life, you can get a punch in the face for such phrases, but here everyone thinks that everything is possible!” This statement is a little incorrect, and although in everyday life I divide people only into Humans and Non-Humans, the Internet made me observe several more categories of human psychotypes. I felt sorry for some individuals in a human and spiritual way.
In those same social networks there are people who are really very significant in the creative world. As a rule, these people never take “nicknames” for themselves, they register strictly under their names or (in the worst case) under stage names. But that's how they are known in real life. People of art are the most vulnerable part of the virtual world. “Anyone can offend an artist,” Ostap Bender very correctly noted. At the same time, they are the most well-mannered part of the Internet. They categorically do not understand by what moral right a certain Vasya Pupkin from Verkhnie Volochki finds it possible and necessary for them to be rude on the air?
The most important thing is that they do not complain to the “gods of the resource” – the administrators, and bitterly accept this unfair treatment. Of course, not everyone can stand it. Psychologically, this is understandable. In real life, this category of individuals is used to accepting flowers and applause from these same people at their concerts. It turns out that they are being lied to – either at the concert or on the “net”. The soul demands an answer and does not find it. There is a high probability that they are not destined to read these lines. It would not have made them calmer, but the answer is approximately this – there is no answer and there cannot be one. It does not encourage, but it does not inspire imaginary illusions either. She herself floundered in all this for a long time.
Another category of citizens are simply good, intelligent, correct Internet users. It warms the heart that a certain percentage of the “virtual web” consists of them. It is easy and pleasant to communicate with them. The most interesting thing is that sometimes this “electronic communication” turns into real human relations. But I will say honestly – not often. It is enough that the communication takes place within the framework of correctness and does not strike at the psyche. I would call such relations mutual respect.
There is another very interesting layer of “residents of the Internet country” – children and teenagers. This is a big problem. I frankly do not understand who let them in and why and what goals they were pursuing, but the result was not long in coming. They do not care at all who is in front of them, how old the person is to whom they write nasty and stupid things. I saw that special “zones” of communication were allocated for them – children's social networks. But, as always, it turned out in vain. It turned out that half of those registered there are adult pedophile uncles looking for victims. The only thing that frankly gave hope was that this is quickly stopped and monitored by the appropriate authorities.
In adult “networks” – complete chaos. I can only speak for “Contact”, mainly. It simply amazed me with the abundance of open pornography. The most amazing thing is that no one stops it and, it seems, it is completely legalized. One of the most “populous” groups has a telling name “Sex is life!” And do not think that these people discuss the moral and ethical aspects of existence. Everything is loaded with pornographic films.
It was when I accidentally stumbled upon this group that I finally realized that I had probably been brought up incorrectly. Surely 25,576 people can't be wrong in their preferences? Or… can they? And I'm not a prude, I just have different values. But! I focused on this point only because the children who flooded “Contact” are calmly accepted into this group. How? The year of birth is indicated as 1024 from the “creation of the world”. The administrators react calmly, or rather – not at all. But they can insult very respected gallery owners or world-famous musicians with a “ban list”.
It's an amazing thing… More precisely, the problem is that the organizers, administrators and other “helmsmen” of large sites and systems are people who are on average between eighteen and twenty-eight years old. They remember all the insults that adults have inflicted on them (apparently so, because I, being a teacher with 16 years of experience, simply cannot find any other reasons), and now they are trying to compensate for the “moral damage” in this way.
Everything I have written about is only the “tip of the iceberg”. There are many more problems than I have outlined. The question is what irreparable damage this causes to the psyche of good, educated, sensible people.
There is only one thing that makes me happy as a human being. Let these be the “first signs”, “fragile shoots”, but if you want, you can still find a way to deal with virtual boors. Fortunately, IP addresses are easy to determine (or not so easy, but it can be done). And after several “virtual terrorists” who significantly offended the dignity of an individual have already been given very real earthly prison terms, you will have to clearly learn a few simple things. For every action there is a reaction. If a person does not allow himself to be humiliated and insulted, then no one will be able to do this. And, perhaps, the most important thing is that a self-respecting person will never insult or humiliate another person!
Let's get back to interactive communication. My friends have two new “fashionable bonuses” – the social virtual network “VKontakte”, where they invited me, and “Odnoklassniki”, where I categorically did not go. I am an artist by profession, and intuitively I was not satisfied with the interface of “Odnoklassniki” from the very beginning. It turned out that appearance always matters to me.
There is no point in explaining that a social network is a huge virtual space where serious passions “boil”, sometimes destroying the psyche. I am an open and straightforward person. And most importantly, I still can't get my head around the fact that there is such a definition as a “virtual friend”. For me, a FRIEND is a friend everywhere and always. It turned out that there are quite a lot of people who perceive the world from this angle. And that's when my problems began.
So what is virtual communication? People's opinions are divided into two parts: conditional and unconditional. Moreover, both parts are relative, and they depend only on the subjective perception of virtual space by an individual.
When going online, a person has the right to take a “nickname”. In my opinion, this is the very first step that removes all inhibitions. Users suddenly remove all possible prohibitions from themselves, hiding behind a “nickname”. As my friends say: “In real life, you can get a punch in the face for such phrases, but here everyone thinks that everything is possible!” This statement is a little incorrect, and although in everyday life I divide people only into Humans and Non-Humans, the Internet made me observe several more categories of human psychotypes. I felt sorry for some individuals in a human and spiritual way.
In those same social networks there are people who are really very significant in the creative world. As a rule, these people never take “nicknames” for themselves, they register strictly under their names or (in the worst case) under stage names. But that's how they are known in real life. People of art are the most vulnerable part of the virtual world. “Anyone can offend an artist,” Ostap Bender very correctly noted. At the same time, they are the most well-mannered part of the Internet. They categorically do not understand by what moral right a certain Vasya Pupkin from Verkhnie Volochki finds it possible and necessary for them to be rude on the air?
The most important thing is that they do not complain to the “gods of the resource” – the administrators, and bitterly accept this unfair treatment. Of course, not everyone can stand it. Psychologically, this is understandable. In real life, this category of individuals is used to accepting flowers and applause from these same people at their concerts. It turns out that they are being lied to – either at the concert or on the “net”. The soul demands an answer and does not find it. There is a high probability that they are not destined to read these lines. It would not have made them calmer, but the answer is approximately this – there is no answer and there cannot be one. It does not encourage, but it does not inspire imaginary illusions either. She herself floundered in all this for a long time.
Another category of citizens are simply good, intelligent, correct Internet users. It warms the heart that a certain percentage of the “virtual web” consists of them. It is easy and pleasant to communicate with them. The most interesting thing is that sometimes this “electronic communication” turns into real human relations. But I will say honestly – not often. It is enough that the communication takes place within the framework of correctness and does not strike at the psyche. I would call such relations mutual respect.
There is another very interesting layer of “residents of the Internet country” – children and teenagers. This is a big problem. I frankly do not understand who let them in and why and what goals they were pursuing, but the result was not long in coming. They do not care at all who is in front of them, how old the person is to whom they write nasty and stupid things. I saw that special “zones” of communication were allocated for them – children's social networks. But, as always, it turned out in vain. It turned out that half of those registered there are adult pedophile uncles looking for victims. The only thing that frankly gave hope was that this is quickly stopped and monitored by the appropriate authorities.
In adult “networks” – complete chaos. I can only speak for “Contact”, mainly. It simply amazed me with the abundance of open pornography. The most amazing thing is that no one stops it and, it seems, it is completely legalized. One of the most “populous” groups has a telling name “Sex is life!” And do not think that these people discuss the moral and ethical aspects of existence. Everything is loaded with pornographic films.
It was when I accidentally stumbled upon this group that I finally realized that I had probably been brought up incorrectly. Surely 25,576 people can't be wrong in their preferences? Or… can they? And I'm not a prude, I just have different values. But! I focused on this point only because the children who flooded “Contact” are calmly accepted into this group. How? The year of birth is indicated as 1024 from the “creation of the world”. The administrators react calmly, or rather – not at all. But they can insult very respected gallery owners or world-famous musicians with a “ban list”.
It's an amazing thing… More precisely, the problem is that the organizers, administrators and other “helmsmen” of large sites and systems are people who are on average between eighteen and twenty-eight years old. They remember all the insults that adults have inflicted on them (apparently so, because I, being a teacher with 16 years of experience, simply cannot find any other reasons), and now they are trying to compensate for the “moral damage” in this way.
Everything I have written about is only the “tip of the iceberg”. There are many more problems than I have outlined. The question is what irreparable damage this causes to the psyche of good, educated, sensible people.
There is only one thing that makes me happy as a human being. Let these be the “first signs”, “fragile shoots”, but if you want, you can still find a way to deal with virtual boors. Fortunately, IP addresses are easy to determine (or not so easy, but it can be done). And after several “virtual terrorists” who significantly offended the dignity of an individual have already been given very real earthly prison terms, you will have to clearly learn a few simple things. For every action there is a reaction. If a person does not allow himself to be humiliated and insulted, then no one will be able to do this. And, perhaps, the most important thing is that a self-respecting person will never insult or humiliate another person! Marina Ovchinnikova
