Strangers on the Other Side of the Computer Screen

Social Psychology - The Individual Self

As a student in an online class, I feel as if the concept of "self" is a little less present than it would be in a traditional classroom. Don't get me wrong, you are still the same person regardless of how you take a college course, however, your classmates may perceive your idea of "yourself" differently than how you would. I believe that your own perception of yourself does not change depending on your environment because you know yourself better than anyone else. But, I do think that if you change the environment around you, then there becomes a vast difference between how your classmates identify you.

According to Charles Horton Cooley, "primary groups are the 'spheres of intimate association and cooperation' that are 'fundamental in forming the social nature and ideals of the individual'" (Cooley 37). In other words, we need "intimate face-to-face association and cooperation" (Cooley 37). By being enrolled in an online class we lack the face-to-face contact. Instead, we rely heavily on an individual’s grammar, presentation on their blogs, and organization. First impressions do make all the difference, but they are distinguished in diverse ways in the two very different types of classrooms. In a traditional classroom we have the advantage of observing how a student dresses and carries themselves, to whether they are shy and sit in the back, as well as their body language. A student online may be the shyest person out of the entire class, but their peers would never know unless they said so. All in all, I do not think we are necessarily strangers in either classroom, but I feel as if in an online classroom an individual whose shy might act a little more outgoing than they usually would because they do not have to speak in front of a large classroom. In an online classroom you can become what you want to be. This might not be the case for everybody, and I’m definitely not saying that’s my case, but I can see why different people prefer different types of classroom settings over another. Whether it’s online or in person, each classroom format solely depends on one’s personality.

Although I am all for online classes, after reading Kenneth Gergen’s essay about the dissolution of self, I find myself surprisingly agreeing with him. I never really took time to think about how an online class affects the process of social saturation. A century ago we did not have the technology that we do today, which means that the social relationships back then were confined to the distance of an easy walk (Gergen 51). The face-to-face community is vanishing into the pages of history thanks to new technological developments (Gergen 51). Instead of using old fashioned mail by horse which took from days to weeks, we now have a local mailman picking up our mail, or even easier, we have e-mail or cell phones. Everyday life has become easier; we don’t have to work for things that we normally would’ve back in the day. By being enrolled in an online class, we lose face-to-face contact with the teacher and our peers; therefore we are contributing to the process of social saturation. Although I agree with Gergen that we might be increasingly saturating our relationships as time progresses and technology advances, I do not feel as if we are cheating ourselves of a good education.

Whether we are strangers or not in a traditional or online classroom we can still learn and relay the same information, but in the end it all just depends on YOU.