User:Kgmccann/sandbox

Online disinhibition is the lack of restraint one feels when communicating online in comparison to communicating in-person.[1] Anonymity, asynchronous communication, and empathy deficit contribute to online disinhibition.[2]

Anonymity can make a person feel safe online, like a different person, one might even take on a new persona. It can also make one feel like doing or saying anything is possible because one will most likely not be reprimanded in real life.[1] Asynchronous communication is communication that is not happening live and it can take time for the original message to receive a response.[3] Asynchronous communication affects online disinhibition because one can send a message out into the internet and not get an immediate reply, and log out. Therefore, one doesn't have to think about what is said. On the other hand, this also gives one time to give a more thoughtful response.[2] Empathy deficit is the reduction of being able to identify with others' emotions.[4] There is an empathy deficit because of lack of non-verbal feedback.[5] Through mediated communication it is hard to know what tone and facial expressions accompany the message. So, it makes it harder to empathize with others. Both anonymity and empathy deficit make it harder to perceive others online as people with feelings because of the lack of facial interaction.[2][1]

Several researchers have noted the correlation between Pathological Internet Use and increased online disinhibition, especially among college students [15][16].  An Australian study [17] found that disinhibition, which is often a predictor of other addictive behaviors, was a poor predictor of heavy internet use. The joint prevalence of low self-esteem and online disinhibition among pathological internet users suggests that they may find the anonymity and asynchronicity of online interactions liberating, leading to greater disinhibition when they are online [16].

Other research has specifically linked anonymity with greater disinhibited, mob-like behavior on the message, board 4chan[18], while at the same time crediting this disinhibition for some of the more creative meme-generation there.

Possible consequences

Cyberbullying is the act of trying to make another person feel embarrassed, intimidated, or bad about themselves through the internet.[6] Online disinhibition plays a role in the act of cyberbullying. Anonymity usually leads to meaner comments towards others (cyberbullying) but it alone doesn't cause cyberbullying.[7] Asynchronous communication allows the bully to say what they have to say and then log out like nothing happened, having to face no consequence outside of the internet.[8] Empathy deficit is what allows the bully to post the messages in the first place, the victim is reduced to a name on a computer screen.[2]

Racist, sexist, violent, and rude online comments aren't the direct result of anonymity.[7] Those comments arise only when other people are also saying things like that; online users tend to keep the same tone, civility/incivility as others in online posts.[9][7]

The online disinhibition effect can have an effect on one's job security and future employment opportunities. Sixteen-year-old Kimberley Swann was fired from her job due to negative comments she made about her occupation on her Facebook page,[10] while another infamous case involved a woman, Heather Armstrong, being terminated after "lampooning" her colleagues on the Internet.[11] These are consequences of certain Internet users believing themselves to be unchained from typical social strictures. The author of Six Causes of Online Disinhibition states that "[c]ompared with face-to-face interactions, online we feel freer to do and say what we want and, as a result, often do and say things we shouldn't".[11]

Online disinhibition can also have positive outcomes. People that are shy, that feel they can't talk about certain things in their real lives, that may have no vocal outlet can benefit from online disinhibition without causing harm to others.[12] The anonymity of being online allows people to self-disclose more than they do in-person.[12] Online disinhibition can provide a safe place for people of the LGBTQ community (and other marginalized groups) to share information and support one another.[13] It can help students be more interactive in online classrooms than they are in real classrooms.[14]

See also

• Antisocial personality disorder
• Cyberpsychology
• Deindividuation
• Flaming (Internet)
• Ring of Gyges
• The Invisible Man
• Troll (Internet)

References

1.    1 2 3 Suler, John (June 2004). "The Online Disinhibition Effect". CyberPsychology & Behavior. 7: 321–326. 

2.    1 2 3 4 Terry, Christopher, Jeff Cain (May 2016). "The Emerging Issue of Digital Empathy". American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 80 (4). 

3.    ↑ "Asynchronous communication". Wikipedia. 2017-03-10. 

4.    ↑ McCornack, Steven, Joseph Ortiz (2016). Choices & Connections, 2e. Bedford/St. Martin. ISBN 1319043526. 

5.    ↑ Antoniadou, Nafsika; et al. (June 2016). "Possible Common Correlates between Bullying and Cyber-Bullying among Adolescents". Psicologia Educativa. 22 (1): 27–38. CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)

6.    ↑ "Merriam-Webster Dictionary Cyberbullying". 

7.    1 2 3 Rosner, Leonie, Nicole C. Kramer (August 2016). "Verbal Venting in the Social Web: Effects of Anonymity and Group Norms on Aggressive Language Use in Online Comments". Social Media + Society. 2 (3): 2–11. 

8.    ↑ Uhls, Yalda T. (2012). "Cyberbullying Has a Broader Impact Than Traditional Bullying". Cyberbullying. 

9.    ↑ Konnikova, Maria (2013-10-23). "The Psychology of Online Comments". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-04-26. 

10.  ↑ "BBC NEWS | UK | England | Essex | Facebook remark teenager is fired". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-26. 

11.  1 2 "Six Causes of Online Disinhibition - PsyBlog". PsyBlog. 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2017-04-26. 

12.  1 2 Lapidot-Lefler, N., Azy Barak (2015). "The benign online disinhibition effect: Could situational factors induce self-disclosure and prosocial behaviors?". Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace. 9 (2). 

13.  ↑ Miller, Brandon (September 2016). "A Computer-Mediated Escape from the Closet: Exploring Identity, Community, and Disinhibited Discussion on an Internet Coming Out Advice Forum". Sexuality & Culture. 20 (3): 602–625. 

14.  ↑ Martin, Kenneth (October 2013). "Leveraging disinhibition to increase student authority in asynchronous online discussion.(Case study)". Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. 17 (3): 149. 

15. Morahan-Martin, J., & Schumacher, P. (2000). “Incidents and correlates of pathological Internet use among college students”. Computers in Human Behavior 16:13–29.

16. Niemz, K., Griffiths, M., & Banyard, P.( December 2005). “Prevalence of pathological Internet use among university students and correlations with self-esteem, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and disinhibition.” CyberPsychology & Behavior. 8(6): 562-570.

17.  Armstrong, L., Phillips, J., & Saling, L. (October 2000). “Potential Determinants of heavier internet usage”. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 53(4): 537-550.

18. Bernstein, M. S., Monroy-Hernández, A., Harry, D., André, P., Panovich, K., & Vargas, G. G. (2011, July). 4chan and/b: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community. In ICWSM (pp. 50-57).

Further reading

• Joinson, Adam (2007). "Disinhibition and the Internet". Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications. Academic Press. pp. 75–92. ISBN 978-0123694256. 

External links

• McRaney, David (10 February 2011). "Deindividuation". Retrieved 10 February 2011. 
• The Online Disinhibition Effect Rider University
• "How the internet created an age of rage". The Guardian (The Observer). 24 July 2011.