injenuity

Posted by Jennifer on March 15th, 2008 in Uncategorized , SecondLife, SocialMedia, Twitter, VirtualWorlds

I think this social networking thing we have going on is more about brain chemistry and less about technology. We are making social connections, but I feel we are also making new internal brain connections, stimulating endocrine production and by nature, changing our personalities. The visual and audio cues we feed off create new impulses that access parts of our brain we may not have previously engaged. I would love to see studies on this. I am interested in finding out if these new connections leave other portions of our brain unused, and how that will affect our future development.

When our chemistry changes, our face to face social interactions change as well. Our bodies naturally react to the new hormonal balance and it affects the way we associate with the world around us. Some of us, myself included, are more open to new personal connections. Others, more enabled by the power of connections, turn to bullying and harassment. I used to describe myself as shy and introverted. In the last year or so, I have become comfortable in social situations. I still fear before I arrive, but once I am in the company of others, I am fine.

I have noticed others who have had similar experiences, where social constructs have to be re-established and relationships evaluated.  I have seen people with fears of public speaking, stand up before a large audience and not flinch.  I have seen shy singles find their dream companion. I don’t think this is a new phenomenon.  I think we are just beginning to witness the effects of long-term social networking.  We need to examine the people who began the networking in the late 80’s and early 1990’s with IRC and BBS systems.  I would be curious to know how they feel their earlier networking influenced their current social habits.

I was in a workshop on Second Life this week where the presenter spoke about how students take ownership of their avatars. They feel a personal connection and that leads to higher accountability for quality of course work.  They take ownership of their content in more substantial ways than they do in a traditional course.  Later that day, I was in Second Life and mentioned this to Fleep, who agreed and shared more about the community she is currently building to help educators and other newcomers establish themselves in world.  She feels this is one key to future success in world.  I believe her!

I have spent time in Second Life for more than a year.  I’ve bought and sold land and rented an apartment.  I never connected with other people, until now.  And now, I can feel the chemistry.  I get excited when I make a new social connection.  I look forward to seeing if people left garbage in my Second Life house, almost as much as I look forward to checking my RSS feeds.  It’s exciting to me to post on Twitter that I’m in SL and then see who joins me.   The technology simply facilitates the people connections.  I can’t think of another way to pull together a group of like-minded, friendly people with no advance notice.  I enjoy the new brain chemistry and I think it has a positive impact in my off-line life.   It will be interesting to follow others who haven’t been networking online as long as I have.  I would like to observe whether the chemistry occurs equally for those new to networking as it does for the seasoned veterans.  I’m also curious about long term effects, based on level of engagement with social networking.