LightningBolt, 3/3

In class on Tuesday we questioned if it was possible to have a community on the internet. After thinking about this I am certain that it is possible to have communities on the internet. I personally do not feel that I am a part of any online communities, but I am certain others in the class do. When I go on the internet the only forms of communication I partake in are email and Facebook. Both of which I only use to communicate with people that I know on a “face to face” level. When other people go on the internet they may go into chat rooms, dating web sites, or use Facebook for social networking. It is possible to form bonds without face to face contact and I think many people do this over the internet. It is true that people may not be who they are pretending to be online, but it is also possible that people are not who they are pretending to be face to face. For instance, a 32 year old man may be pretending to be a 12 year old girl on the internet, but a 32 year old convicted felon may tell a girl he meets in the grocery store that he spent the past 5 years in the peace core. In both cases people must rely on trust that what they are being told is the truth.

It was mentioned in class, what happens if the internet suddenly disappears, what happens to the community that once existed? Even if people can no longer participate in a community I think they will always be part of it. If the neighborhood you used to live in was bull dowsed to build a highway and the houses are no longer there, the community still exists. Just because the internet no longer exists doesn’t mean that the people no longer exists.