Find Youself in Virtual World

Guiyan Zhang
English 102
Assignment #2
06/10/2010
Assignment 2
Find yourself in the virtual world
Sherry Turkle says that real life is just one more window. It means people are addicted to the virtual worlds. They have so many different and ideal roles in cyberspace. They can build identification in MUD, which is restricted by physical shortages and hard to achieve it in the real worlds. Like the Doug, MUD player said in this article:“I’ll get a real-time message that flash on the screen as soon as it is sent from another system user, and I guess that’s RL. RL is just one more windows, and it’s not usually my best one”.( 679) It is just the place where the role transformation has to return.
I partly agree with Sherry Turkle. The author said:“we are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking about evolution, relationships, sexuality, politics, and identity.”（676）whether this way is right depends on different people. For people who are born with physical problem, they are less confident for the real lives. Therefore, they want to create a better life through MUD and make their dreams come true. It is reasonable for them to use this way to build identity. However, some common people just pursue this fantastic world and lost themselves, which make them more vulnerable to face the real world. Thus they are not suitable to do the same thing.
The social phenomenon proved that we are isolated by the Internet. Dr. Kraut, who thinks that Internet use is“building shallow relationships, leading to an overall decline in felling of connection to other people.”(650) Once people spend too much time on the Internet, they will become shy to socialize with people in reality. The reason is that the friends in the Internet are more flexible. People can easily develop good friendship during just few days. They can find the confidence from the cyberspace. Therefore, they gradually lose social skills and become more awkward. However, Katza and Aspden happily conclude that:“The Internet is creating a nation richer in friendships and social relationships”( 650 ) Generally speaking, it is true that we can keep in touch with our friends through Facebook, MSN, E-mail, chatting room, etc. No matter where we are, we can always share our thought and emotions with our friends. The use of Internet to warm friendship has become one kind of tendency in this society.
In conclusion, people cannot avoid using Internet to keep in touch with friends, apply it to the study and work. It is a convenient way to share concerns. Just be careful, do not be addicted to it. Take advantages of Internet in the proper way.