(Mi spiace ma non ce la faccio a tradurre!)
Here it is, as I promised: a book by various Italian authors about "Psychopathology of online behaviour." More on the cover: "Internet addiction, Cyber-transvestitism, Virtual identities..." It was the book for me.
The essays are mostly good, though a couple are too technical. They mostly manage to avoid two risks when talking about Internet: praising it but not knowing what they talk about, and bashing it snottily. When one author says that :P is a "lascivious grin", you begin to doubt he doesn't have a great experience of chats. (If it were, I'd have to slap male and female friends on a daily basis.)
Some authors make very good points on the philosophical nature of the Internet. Mostly I tried to see whether I showed the pathologies they talked about, and I took some of their tests. I'm not an Internet addict. However, and this also made me think that they don't really have a first-hand knowledge of the Net, I have pathologies they don't mention!
I can safely say these are not my problems:
- Cyber-gambling, cyber-shopping, cyber-sex.
- Flirting on-line. I don't flirt in real life either. I hit on people, meaning I slam them over the head with a club to make my feelings known. Nothing less works on me, either.
- I do have a life. Sorta. I don't stay too many hours on the Net, when there isn't a Harvest feast. I don't feel ill when I'm away from it.
Problems I do have:
- E-mails: contrary to the norm, I don't like them. Sometimes they really upset me to a pathological point even when there's no reason.
- Videogames: some of the most stupid elicit a sort of Pavlovian response from me. I mean, Haunted Castle! And yet there is something about the graphics, the immediate reaction of lights and sounds, which clearly causes a primordial reaction. I hate repetitive games where you have to get back continuously if you "die".
- Sometimes I just can't keep my cool. I get so angry that everything whites out. This especially happens in forums which get dangerously similar to real life. It's hard for me to get so worked up on a Gothic verb.
End of part 1. Part 2: Cyber-transvestitism! Stay tuned!
(strolls away whistling "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") |