Sunday, June 24, 2012


There are times when many of us were irritated by others and we just want to speak our mind. I want to sometimes as well. However, one must realize how important keeping your slate clean is on the Internet, as nowadays employers often, if not always, check the Facebook pages of any job applicant. I’m sure we all know people who fall victim to the Online Disinhibition Effect, and I’m sure they will have a hard time finding a job because of their inability to control what they say on a website where everyone and anyone can view your profile.

Online Disinhibition Effect is a valid theory and is seen through our day to day lives.  Whether it be text, email, or social networking, people seem to have a bit more confidence when communicating through these means.  Now a days it is more common to communicate through text messages because it give us time to think of a response and we are not put on the spot as we would be in a face to face conversation or a phone call.  It prevents an awkward silence or a certain tone in voice or even a hand gesture.  With in many industries the first form on contact is non-verbal through email.

Online Disinhibition


In many online environments other people cannot see you. As you browse through web sites, message boards, and even some chat rooms, people may not even know you are there at all - with the possible exception of web masters and other users who have access to software tools that can detect traffic through the site, assuming that they keep an eye on you, one of maybe hundreds or thousands of users. Invisibility gives people the courage to go places and do things that they otherwise wouldn't.

This power to be concealed overlaps with privacy, because privacy is the concealment of identity, but there are some important differences. In text communication such as e-mail, chat, blogs, and instant messaging, others may know a great deal about who you are. However, they still can't see or hear you - and you can't see or hear them. Even with everyone's identity visible, the opportunity to be physically invisible amplifies the disinhibition effect. You don't have to worry about how you look or sound when you’re typing something. You don't have to worry about how others look or sound when you say something. Seeing a frown, a shaking head, a sigh, a bored expression, and many other subtle and not so subtle signs of disapproval or indifference can hold you back from what people are willing to express. In psychoanalysis, the analyst sits behind the patient in order remain a physically ambiguous figure, without revealing any body language or facial expression, so that the patient has free range to discuss whatever he or she wants, without feeling inhibited by how the analyst is physically reacting. In everyday relationships, people sometimes avert their eyes when discussing something personal and emotional. It's easier not to look into the other's face. Text communication offers a built-in opportunity to keep one's eyes diverted.