Assignment 2 - Myspace Chat Rooms?

For the second assignment, I had a hard time finding a psychological space on the Internet in which I would feel comfortable interacting with a target. After searching Google for psychological spaces I took a break and checked my Myspace account. I had never noticed the link to Chat Rooms and thought I would give it a shot. Next thing I new, I was browsing all kinds of chat rooms --- Pop Culture, Music, Reality TV, New Jersey, New York --- until I finally settled for a “Twenty-something” chat room. I assumed this chat would consist of people my age that I could relate to. Little did I know, the chat room would have many “thirty-something” and “something-teens” in it. After thirty minutes of observation, I was almost ready to leave the chat, disgusted at some of the appalling things these people were saying. Then, I was surprised to read, “Ashley: nice pic, sherr”. I honestly wanted to ‘x’ out of the chat room and ignore the comment but thought this could be a good chance to get an impression of Ashley. So I entertained the comment and started a conversation with “Ashley”, who turned out to be a 20-year old male from London.

The format of Myspace chat was interesting. Chat rooms take on a typical form, allowing users to type in and read comments. However, one feature that struck my eye was the user list. Everyone in the chat room had their user names and default profile pictures listed on the left of the chat room box. As you clicked on a user’s picture, a new tab would pop up with the user’s profile. Also, in the chat room, you could click on any user making comments and automatically get linked to his/her profile. It took a while to get used to the fast-paced text lines moving up the screen, but once Ashley initiated conversation with me, I ignored everyone else in the chat room.

My impression of Ashley was a shy, lonely boy (probably around 17-19 years old) who looked for attention in these Myspace chat rooms as a result of a low self-esteem. His profile had many pictures of his family (mother, sister, niece, nephew) but only one of himself with his nephew that barely showed his face. He described himself as “5’8, blonde hair, blue eyes” --- very general, but generally positive traits. Seeing as to how he only disclosed this information about himself and quickly changed the subject, I assumed that he wasn’t particularly a confident guy. He seemed to be very interested in my personal life, but I was good at changing the subject and disclosing as little information as possible. As I was judging Ashley on such limited cues, I realized that the Hypersonal theory was put into play because my impression of him was more intense than it would have been if we were FtF. Also, I realized that I, myself, fell victim to the behavioral confirmation and selective self-presentation characteristics because I gave limited information based on what I wanted Ashley to think of me and answered his questions in a way that I thought he wanted me to answer them (based on what I thought his impression of me was). In conclusion, I thought this was a challenging assignment, but I’m glad that I finally got the courage to put myself out there and interact with someone in a psychological internet space.