The following is an account from Sherry Turkle’s 1999 book entitled, Life on the Screen
The Story of the Electronic Lover
Alex was a male psychiatrist that became an active member on a CompuServe chat line. He chose the screen name “Shrink, Inc” and started calling himself “Joan” after someone he was chatting with assumed he was a female. Alex found that this female was more open with him than were his female patients and female friends in real life. He was stunned by the power and intimacy of the conversation.
Believing that he could use his psychiatry skills to help other women, he began regularly logging on as Joan. Joan was a severely handicapped Manhattan resident who claimed her disfigurement was a prime reason to never meet any of these cyber-friends face to face. Joan’s fighting spirit and ability to surmount her handicaps served as inspiration to many of her cyber-friends. She was even married to a policeman and their relationship gave many other disabled women hope that they too could be loved. Despite her handicaps Joan was described as outgoing, sunny, lusty and hilarious.
The relationships between Joan and her cyber-friends deepened. She engaged in lesbian cybersex with some of these women. She also set up some of her straight cyber-friends with Alex, a trusted psychiatrist and friend.
Eventually Alex decided that the situation was getting out of control. He had to make Joan die. Joan’s “husband” got online and informed the community that Joan was ill and in the hospital. Alex was overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy and love for Joan. Joan’s friend told her husband how important Joan was to them. They offered moral support, financial assistance, and names of specialists that could help.
Alex was in a panic, he couldn’t decide if he should kill off Joan because she meant to so many different people. Eventually he had Joan recover. Joan’s husband had been pressed to give the name of the hospital where Joan was staying so that cards and flowers could be sent. Alex gave the name of the hospital where he worked as a psychiatrist. One member of the CompuServe chat group called the hospital to confirm its address and discovered that Joan was no there as a patient.
The ruse began to unravel. Eventually all of the cyber-friends found out that Joan was not real. The story of Alex’s deception led to shock and outrage among all involved.
Questions:
Was the normally reclusive and inhibited Alex only pretending to have the personality of Joan?
What was his real personality?
Did Joan help her many disabled online friends who became more active because of her inspiration?
When and how did Alex cross the line from virtual friend and helper to con artist?
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9 comments:
1. I don't think he was pretending, everyone is someone else on the inside, and most of the time you can;t show it to people, but when pretending to be someone else--especially if you are hiding your true appearence-- you can let your true inner self roam free and in the open; and therefore become who who have always been.
2. He was really as he described himself "outgoing, sunny, lusty and hilarious." This is the real Alex and Joan together.
3.It certainly seems that way, the way they all reacted to Joan being in the hospital and offered sympathy suggests that they really cared for her because Joan really cared for them. It also says that Alex found that his patients were more open to him, so he could help them more.
4. I think he crossed the line when he stopped helping them and started using this for his own devices. When he started having cybersex with his new found friends this was no longer benfiting either in the way he originally started out to help. then when he realized he was in too deep the lies continued to weave their web, and in the end he was caught and was exposed. Oh that tangled web we weave.
1.Was the normally reclusive and inhibited Alex only pretending to have the personality of Joan?
I think that he was really just letting himself relax without feeling like he had to put forth any kind of ruse. That in itself is ironic, because the whole event was a ruse. However, he was able to relax and I believe let himself express himself.
2.What was his real personality?
A mix between each life was probably his real personality somewhere. He obviously felt like this alternative life was important and fulfilling in a way his real life could not be. It seems like he was pretending in each life though, and his real personality was somewhere in between.
3.Did Joan help her many disabled online friends who became more active because of her inspiration?
I think that she did help her friends, although I'm not sure if they would have been lasting improvements after they learned of Joan's deception. Many people would revert back to their old ways out of spite and hurt.
4.When and how did Alex cross the line from virtual friend and helper to con artist?
When Alex let himself become more than superficially involved with these people he crossed over into con artist territory. He at first only let the people believe what they assumed, but then he encouraged their false assumptions and that became a huge lie. Not only that, but he engaged in intimate acts with them, which, in my eyes, is a violation on many levels.
Within this story lives a fact of the internet, older then the millions of internet memes and gags which we have today. Even older than file sharing, social disinhibition online has usually been rule number one on any site where people are allowed to interact without restraint. At the end of my Senior year of high school, I wrote a paper about the psychological effects of cyberspace for my psychology class, where I found that the main reason for why complete social disinhibition occurs sporadically online is because of the complete control one has over their personal identity in an online situation. Clearly Alex wouldn't have wanted to talk about his own social introversion and having nothing better to do on a Friday night but chat online. Yet given the chance to communicate with others outside the bounds of his seemingly uninteresting life, Alex was literally able to create his own personality, rather then have one placed upon him through his actions in real life. Pretending to hold Joan's personality would have merely just been a mockery of the average female friend for a friend in need, likely born out of any daytime soap opera. Alex clearly utilized the personality which he created to become involved within the lives of others; whether or not Alex would have felt that personality to be real, it certainly was real to everyone whom knew Joan.
The other significant aspect of Joan's role within women's lives had to be that she was developing care within the lives of others, conveying the possibility that all don't have to be lonely, even in the worst possible situation. Yet, he probably could handle the control he had over this personality until it became utilized for hooking himself up with other women for his own selfish reasons, subconsciously creating an negative aspect of Joan in solely Alex's eyes. Once he crossed that line, the control was no longer in his hands, for by this point Joan had developed her own ego, powerful enough to challenge her creator.
I don't think it's quite right to say that Alex was merely pretending to have the personality of Joan. It seems to me that Joan's characteristics really were a part of Alex's personality, but they were perhaps parts that were easier to express online than in other contexts. That does not make those personality traits less valid. The character of Joan may have been contrived, but in this case, I think at least some of her personality traits were the same as Alex's because of the fact that she was Alex. So Alex's personality was indeed comprised of the traits embodied in Joan.
Despite the deception involved, it seems clear that Joan did help to inspire her cyber-friends in a positive way. However, I feel that Alex crossed the line by developing more intimate relationships with these friends under a false identity, which obviously could not be kept up forever.
I don’t think you can really pretend to have a different kind of personality, you may be shy and reclusive but if you become talkative and outgoing via the internet I think that’s still your personality, just not the dominant part. I think Joan is the hidden outgoing/take-command side of Alex, the side he is uncomfortable with. Joan and Alex are not only the same person, but have the same personality. I believe it is possible Joan may have helped inspire other people, which is a good thing. Even under the questionable circumstances when he was assisting other people in a perfectly harmless manner I think that’s a good thing. Although Alex’s use of Joan took a drastic turn for terrible when he began to take advantage of the others lack of information. When he began to have cybersex with people online whom didn't know him nor his true identity he became a con artist. This story really didn't bother me until that point. I mean, it’s wrong to be lied to, but at first he was helping. As soon as he began to help himself, for me at least, it became “wrong”.
I don't think he was pretending, he seemed to have a real desire to help, at least, and maybe found it easier to express certain parts of his personality thru Joan. His "real" personality was some sort of mix, I guess.
It seems definite that Joan was helpful and inspiring to many people, but I think Alex crossed the line when he involved cybersex and setting himself up with women, and the whole fake-my-death conspiracy. That all seems pretty ridiculous.
I think the Alex was just pretending to have the personality of Joan. As it said in the story Alex was just a psychiatrist who participated in the CompuServe project, he was not there to be someone who really wanted to be, and I think he was just there to do research on individuals and their actions on sites like this.
It’s kind of hard to determine Alex’s real personality. I think that he was a man of great confusion, and someone who liked to play with individuals minds. Within the story he is depicted as someone who was a good listener and possibly a good communicator, since he was able to keep up that fake persona. I would say that he is very deceitful, but I guess that’s what you do in the name of social science and therapy.
I think “Joan” did help her disabled on-line friends. I think if Alex hadn’t created Joan those disabled people would still, to this day, be people who let their disabilities run their life, rather than acting against them as if they are just like the rest of the world. By inspiring hope through an unlikely and loving marriage, Joan showed those people that all things are possible with love and hope.
I think he crossed the line between virtual friend to con artist when he had people believing that Joan was dying, and this in turn caused them to send things such as flowers, advice, and possibly money. He may have also become a con artist when he had them believing that he was someone he wasn’t rather than being the psychiatrist he was.
1. Having been "joan" for so long, Alex had to answer questions as her with some portion of his own personality, so I can't imagine he was just pretending.
2. Alex was living his life through Joan in ways he previously could not, like how kids take actions in games that they couldn't do in real life (like grand theft auto 4) I assume alex was his true personality, but he reflected himself through joan somewhat as well.
3."Joan" inspired female friends all over the internet, but the consequences for making a false identity were worse than the benefits in the end in my opinion.
4. cybersex was crossing the line, he basically took advantage of those who he gained trust with.
1. The normally reclusive and inhibited Alex was not pretending to have the personality of Joan, it was his real personality. He was very unconfident with himself and therefore too afraid to reveal his messages to other people. I believe that he had to create someone that people would follow and look up to for them to actually listen to Alex's ideas and thoughts.
2. I would say Alex is unconfident on the outside but on the inside he is friendly, open, intelligent, and deceiving. It also seems like he has a personality of a gay man since he is able to talk to women so well.
3. I would say Joan helped her disabled friends because of her fighting spirit and inspiring words. People don't need a real person for help, just something or some "words" to help them out.
4. Alex crossed the line from virtual helper to con artist when relationships deepened between joan and her cyber friends by becoming someone more than just a virtual helper. By becoming intimate with his virtual friends and having cyber-sex, Alex became the con-artist.
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