O Brave New World: The Dark Side of Cyberspace

Abstract

This article focuses on some of the negative aspects of cyberspace and<br />cyberculture. First, it offers an examination of the impact of our use of<br />social media, and Facebook in particular, on our psyches, pointing out that<br />users of social media can be thought of as audiences. These audiences<br />and information about them can be sold to marketers and advertisers.<br />Next, it offers a case study of a widespread social problem in Japan, more<br />than a million media-obsessed Japanese young men (and some young<br />women), the hikikomori, who shut themselves off from society for months<br />or years at a time. This is followed by a discussion of the impact of mobiles,<br />primarily smartphones, on American adolescents, some of whom text<br />one hundred messages a day to their friends. The effects of the enormous<br />amount of face-time young people spend with screens—around ten<br />hours per day--are also considered. Finally, there is an examination of the<br />impact that Amazon.com, the leading e-commerce Internet site, has had<br />on American shopping practices and American culture and society. The<br />article concludes with a discussion of the work of Hubert Dreyfus about<br />some negative effects of the Internet and, by implication, cyberspace and<br />cyberculture, which, he argues, drain life of meaning.