I’ve been intensively studying the literature on how technology changes society. My focus has been on technologies much more simple and less ubiquitous than current communications and information technologies. This is primarily to understand technological change in its essence. Lately I’ve read a few things that have inspired some thoughts that I’d like to share.

The first came when reading a colleagues paper that cited John Suler’s studies on what he calls “the Online Disinhibition Effect.”

The Online Disinhibition Effect displays in the following ways:

• You Don’t Know Me (dissociative anonymity)
• You Can’t See Me (invisibility)
• See You Later (asynchronicity)
• It’s All in My Head (solipsistic introjection)
• It’s Just a Game (dissociative imagination)
• We’re Equals (minimizing authority)

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