The Internet as a Pleasure-Principle Seductress

Chat rooms. E-mail. Mailing lists. These words are less than 10 years old. In this last decade of the 20th century, communication via the Internet has exploded in quantity. What is interesting is that in this explosion the quality of the communication has also changed. America Online (AOL) is partly to blame. More Americans use AOL than any other Internet Service Provider. AOL allows users with even its most basic account to have up to five different account names—one’s “handle” or name that appears to others in Internet communication. AOL says it does this to allow families to have different accounts for each person without having to pay for more than one account. However, within the last year, AOL has introduced a new feature that speaks to what may be a more likely explanation for this service. Now, users can change their AOL screen name in the middle of an Internet session. There even is no need to log off. If the purpose of this service is to provide additional accounts for family members, this added feature would have no benefit. Instead, AOL has tapped into a psychological process. (Of course, their user-friendly, chat-room-geared service has always made use of psychological principles—one reason it has been so successful.) In this case, this ability to change one’s name allows one to change personality styles with virtually no consequences.

In psychoanalytic terms, one might call this “the removing of the superego.” AOL’s system is a natural for the “pleasure principle,” and the id can “run wild.” Since the id’s two main pleasures are sex and aggression, with the ability to change one’s screen name, one is able to express any kind of sexual and/or aggressive impulse with impunity. Maybe the recipient(s) of the message get angry; however, their response may be directed towards a screen name that no longer exists. As a result, the most conventional (controlled) person can create a screen name (such as “Sexygirl”) and experiment with the kind of communication otherwise forbidden. A person may even change genders to explore other “forbidden” territory. Recent news reports inform us that only sex sites on the World Wide Web are making money. It is no wonder that this is true, given the capabilities of this quick and anonymous system.

Similarly, aggressive impulses are much more freely expressed online. The term “spam” is suddenly in use. In Internet parlance, this means sending inappropriate messages, sometimes to large groups of people. (It can also mean sending messages soliciting money to large groups.)

A quick glance into any one of a number of chat rooms will reveal screen names often having either a sexual or an aggressive nature. Furthermore, the conversation in these chat rooms tends to be one of either flirtation or hatred. Although these tendencies may be more refined in e-mail and on mailing lists, the possibility for their emergence in those arenas certainly exists.

One has to wonder if this new world of communication is good or bad for people. Likely, the answer is that it is both. On the one hand, having an opportunity to vent one’s primitive impulses in a protected environment may be helpful in reducing anxiety. In this sense, the nature of the Internet and companies likes AOL may be “holding environments” that provide relief. A danger, though, is that the attractiveness of this ability may be too seductive. News reports sensationalize “Internet addiction.” Although studies examining this phenomena still depend only on the case study, common sense would dictate that the potential for at least an obsession, if not an addiction, is being encouraged.

In our ever-increasingly “politically correct” world, having a venue for the release of one’s primitive urges may be increasingly popular.

Page 56