Virtual World, a mirage

I aim to explore the subject of cyberspace involvement and its possible consequences in the real world. The question I raise here is what benefit does one gain from redundant cyberspace involvement, which could instead have been replaced by real world constructive tasks. Such as unbound scrolling of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram feeds, mundane Snapchat exchanges and more. Generally, an individual from the standard population lives with the illusion that one is gaining something out of cyber involvement such as maintaining and extending personal and professional networks. The idea works like that of a mirage, which is like the desert sand. It gives the impression that it can be controlled and held static within one’s grip until the fist opens and realization strikes that there is nothing to hold anymore. The act of embedding the virtual world deeply into one's real world comes at a high cost, where cyberspace soon gives the hallucination of the real world. The use of cyberspace is not only limited to social networks but also includes gaming, video watching, news reading or building some sort of all pervading online addiction. This idea of a mirage is also supported by William Gibson, who coined the term Cyberspace and claims: it is not really a place, it's not really space (Gibson, 1995). On his statement, I would point back to the concept of a mirage, and question whether virtual worlds bring us together with others or do they just make being utterly alone a little more bearable? Gibson also used the phrase Consensual Hallucination with regard to the illusionary cyber world and virtual reality that the participants chose to delve into forming all-pervading addictions. Elizabeth Grosz, an author and professor of Comparative Literature re-emphasizes the concept of consensual hallucination. She states, “What seems so alluring about the half-formed promise of Virtual Reality technologies is the ideal of a world of one's own that one can share with others through consensus, but that one can enter or leave at will...that brings with it a certain guarantee of pleasure without danger (Grosz, 2001).” This statement by Grosz refers to the pleasure of a utopian mirage displayed by the cyberspace that the participants seek to extract.

Kevin Robins in The Cybercultures Reader (2000) adds that Consensual Hallucination has turned the blind eye in the world we live in. Many consider it to be a stress reliever and it provides them a window to escape real world issues. Robins claims that the exhilaration of virtual existence and experiences comes from the sense of transcendence and the liberation from the material and embodied the world (Bell 2000, 79). It nullifies one from their weaknesses in the real world and allows them to feel the power of the self in the virtual world. Robins argues that the elsewhere of cyberspace is a place of salvation and transcendence. Virtual interaction being about adjustment and adaptation to the increasingly difficult circumstances of the contemporary world that it is all too easy to think of them as an alternative to the real world and its disorders (Bell 2000, 87). The utopian mirage gives a pleasure of illusionary power to carry out activities on one's own will. The point worth heeding is it just provides the illusion of being away from the mundane world, and it does not save one from the possible consequences such as the after effects of procrastination in the real world. Therefore, the cyberspace is seen by Gibson as Consensual Hallucination, which Grosz furthers as pacifying the negativities of the real world. Robins supports the claim by adding that virtual reality is as an alternative reality in a world gone wrong. Hence, one shall ponder whether the amount of time and energy distribution for the cyberspace involvement and its productiveness in the real world is worth it?

References:

Bell, D. (2000). The cybercultures reader. London: New York.

Gibson, W. (1995). Neuromancer. Norstedts: Pan.

Grosz, E. (2001). Architecture from the outside essays on virtual and real space. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.