This subject fascinates me. I often wonder to what extent our society is shaped by the masive change in communication we've seen in the last 20 years. Since mobile phones and the net have become so popular, it is now easier than ever for everyone to voice their opinions, and to a huge audience, with relative ease. Along with this comes the culture of second identities, the ability to dish out abuse to all and sundry from the safety of anonimity, and to create alter ego's of ourselves (often revealing more about our true personalities than we might think). Who's ever entered a chatroom and encountered 'people' with names such as "Mad-dog", "crazziii_grrrl" and "joe.bloggs2002". Can we summari...

This subject fascinates me. I often wonder to what extent our society is shaped by the masive change in communication we've seen in the last 20 years. Since mobile phones and the net have become so popular, it is now easier than ever for everyone to voice their opinions, and to a huge audience, with relative ease. Along with this comes the culture of second identities, the ability to dish out abuse to all and sundry from the safety of anonimity, and to create alter ego's of ourselves (often revealing more about our true personalities than we might think). Who's ever entered a chatroom and encountered 'people' with names such as "Mad-dog", "crazziii_grrrl" and "joe.bloggs2002". Can we summarise that of these people, one was unimaginitive, one wanted to be respected, and the other "just out for a laugh"?
Our opinions come hand in hand with this idea of self projection, the net allows us to be who we want and say what we want. I freely admit to voicing opinions in an online discussion which I would never have painted on a banner and taken to the street. However extreme the spectrum of views and opinions are, the fact remains that people are communicating. If we don't agree with someone, then we are entitled to challenge them, but they are also entitled to respect, no matter what the subject. To what extent has this element transcended to society? Many people happy to simply hurl abuse at strangers, over the simplest things, youngsters dishing out insults without consequence. Communication is a vital element in any civilised society, providing the communication is civilised!

Just realised I've started to sound like 'Springer's final thought'.

Jon