"Life on Screen" Response

Sherry Turkle's book "Life on Screen" is an interesting and intriguing look at modern day life in the age of the Internet and how the Internet is changing everything about ourselves and our world. Turkle, who is an MIT professor, breaks down the effects of the Internet and showcases activities that are unique to it, including role playing games (which she calls MUDS,) in which someone can electronically make believe they are someone else and trek around a fantasy world. Many people can be playing together, but every one of them can be in a different state, time zone or even hemisphere- it's a communal experience without the actual community.

Turkle argues that these experiences can lead to a new postmodern way of knowing, different than any other before the electronic age of the internet. People are found to respect and become addicted to these games, because they treat them like real life suspending disbelief since they are pretending to be someone else and succeeding at it. Turkle poses some intriguing analysis to this phenomenon- who's to say what's real and what's not? Are these virtual reality games any real or fake than our own actual lives? What's more exciting- the games or life? Also, for the players do the lines blur between the real and the virtual?

Turkles book was most educational when it focused on the actual people that play these games, giving the reader a sense of who these people are exactly and what makes them "tick." She showcases a guy named Doug who comments on the fact his own life is just an extension of his video game life...

"I split my mind, I'm getting better at it. I see myself as being two or three or more.. I go from window to window. And then I'll get a real time message and then that's real life... It's just one more window. Real Life is just one more window.. and it's usually not my best."

Reading that quote is both eye opening and partly frightening- we are now living in a world where some people feel they are more comfortable pretending to be someone else behind a computer screen as opposed to actually living a real life in the real world. The frightening aspect is that this is only the very beginning of this phenomenon- video games in general have only been around for around 25 or so years and computer games for even shorter. If some people have this reaction to video games at this stage, how will it transform over the next 10, 30, 50 or even 100 years?

Another aspect to think about is that many people that are fans of these games are young people. Many are students, whether it be in high school or college. Is it a generational gap that there are few older people playing video games? Is it something about these games that only young people are attracted to? Or is it something else.. Also, how do these young people that are obsessed with virtual reality age? Will they still be interested in these games when they grow old, or is it just a drug out "fad?"

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE IT'S BEEN PUBLISHED

Obviously there has been a mountain of changes since "Life on Screen" was published in 1997, even though it reads like a book that could have been written yesterday- there's just a lot left out. Since publication, the world is even more obsessed with computers as it was in 1997 and there's been an amazing shift towards all things related to the internet and all things electronic. New inventions like the iPhone and iPad have only aided these shifts by leaps and bounds. Also, video games have become much, much more advanced- not only the graphics of them, but also how intricate they are, and how such a majority of young people play them now- it's no longer a "niche" activity as it probably was when Turkle wrote "Life on Screen," rather now it's on par with watching television or playing basketball outside.

Another change is the amount of money both poured into the production of these games and how many units they are selling. New installments of role playing games such as "Halo" and "Call of Duty" make more money than most big budget films and along with these fantasy and adventure interactive games, there are countless other ones geared toward varying interests, including the "Rock Band" series (where people pretend they are musicians,) or the variety of sports featured on the Wii games package (where people make believe they are athletes).

All in all, the fact that the internet has changed all of our lives is undeniable, but what are the long term effects, both good and bad? Time will tell. Until then, we'll just have to play another level.......