Reflection on Yochai Benkler reading

In the Benkler reading, he discusses two opposing views of the Internet - one intrinsically negative, postulating that the Internet would lead to the breakdown of social relationships - and the other perhaps naively positive, stating that the Internet would lead to new forms of community, and make us more connected than ever before. Benkler does not believe either view to be entirely correct, but feels that the more negative view is "more wrong" than the other. He claims that the data on the Internet as it is today does not show a breakdown in relationships, but a building of new ones, new kinds of relationships as well as more traditional ones, and strengthening of face-to-face relationships via faster, more immediate long-distance communication (as well as more convenient e-mail; one no longer has to wait for a letter, nor do they have to schedule a good time to talk on the phone - they can simply reply to e-mail as time permits).

He also points out that studies which tried to prove that the Internet detracted from time spent on face-to-face relationships only ultimately proved that they spent less time doing things that traditionally were considered to detract from those same-said relationships: shopping and television watching. Most people participating in these studies reported that they watched a good deal less television than they used to. He also points out, when one study asserted that while CMC promoted communication, it detracted from it as one could not meet for coffee or hug over the Internet, that such things weren't exactly possible over the phone, either, and so the assertion that the Internet is a less desireable means of promoting relationships than the telephone is inherently flawed. Another study even demonstrated that Internet users tended to be in contact with more people within their own physical communities, rather than just the people on their block (as people without Internet tended to be), and they spent just as much time with their familes. They looked things up more and kept in touch with others more than they would have without the Internet.

Another important point he raised was how the Internet allows us to express parts of our identity that we would not express in our daily, face-to-face interactions for fear of reprisal; I found this to be true in my study of cross-gender roleplay, and this is also something I think would be applicable to our study of Anonymous - people online can express themselves in ways they cannot when people can more readily identify them.

In short, I find myself, through personal experience, research, and Benkler's own data, agreeing with his statement that the Internet does not bring us a sense of anomie, as some could say of the industrialization of our society did, but instead, it does foster a sense of community among us; still, I do believe that there are forms of communication on the internet, particularly in places like /b/, where people can be made to feel exclusion from community rather than inclusion, and where isolation can and does occur; still, like Benkler, I think it is much more common for communication to improve with Internet use rather than to degrade.