When I was in middle school, way before AIM came out (as far as I knew), I had a full America Online account that allowed me to surf the internet, get emails, and chat with friends via instant messaging. I thought it was the coolest thing. I picked my own screen name, had my own password, and could go on AOL without a parent present. As I was informed by classmates about various websites to explore (most of them sites like Freearcade.com), I stated to surf the internet. To my displeasure, some sites that my friends were going on I was denied access to. This puzzled me; I was supposed to be able to surf the internet on AOL. Why couldn’t I?
This question was answered when I saw my dad setting up an account for my younger brother. “Parental Controls” is certainly every preteen’s worst enemy. It is the Leviathan of AOL. Parental Controls can be set to restrict certain online activities, like not allowing emails that aren’t from AOL to appear in the user’s mailbox, not having the ability to IM people, and not being allowed to access certain websites. My dad set the Parental Controls on my account, so while the Parental Controls was the Leviathan online, he set the Leviathan according to what he perceived to be appropriate internet access for a preteen.
In Chapter 4 of Psychology of the Internet, Wallace discusses the ways that the Leviathan is implemented in cyberspace. She concludes that it is absolutely possible to have social norms on the internet due to people’s desire and willingness to conform and be part of a group. With this innate mentality, people want to preserve order and stability in all environments that they’re in, including the internet. The Leviathan is an invisible force online that monitors an area of cyberspace to make sure that people are following the rules. On AOL, preset Parental Controls regulate the online experience, acting as the Leviathan. The Parental Controls took the place of my parents constantly watching what I was doing online. If the rules set by the Parental Controls were not followed, then the user would be reprimanded by denied access to whatever he or she was trying to utilize. Eventually, the user would learn what they can and can not do online, and to avoid frustration, would stop trying to do things that they’re not supposed to do. The Leviathan here conditions users to follows the norms and regulations of the service.
5 comments:
You discussion regarding parental controls being a Leviathan was a great topic. It was similar to mine because you inadvertently mentioned “two levels of the Leviathan.” You first discussed how your dad set the “limits” or norms for what you could see or do online, but then at another level America Online was the enforcer. Like my discussion of facebook, where I claimed that there was first a viewer in the facebook community that had to report a student and then secondly facebook was the actual enforcer/ reprimand. I would be an interesting area of research to try and determine if the majority of Leviathan’s on the internet were solely enforcers or if they required the additional step of someone having to report or set the standards first.
I think this was a perfect example of a Leviathan. The fact that parents can set controls that allow their kids to visit certain websites and not others is exactly what Wallace means by the Leviathan. Kids want to fit in with their friends and be able to go online, however there are certain freedoms they must give up while they are online.
Parental controls are an interesting topic. In some ways, your dad was really the Leviathan more than the parental controls were. The parental controls were just the way the Leviathan enforced the rules. It is, however, bothersome when you're trying to browse the internet and you're restricted be parental controls. As you said, people will learn the restrictions over time.
Good post Rachel. Parental controls are a really interesting issue. AOL is the Leviathan, as controlled by your dad, but it's interesting to think how much your dad was controlled by social norms. I remember when AOL parental controls were a really big deal and the parents would discuss them and what level they put their kids on, so perhaps your dad's friends were really the underlying Leviathan in forcing him to conform to the standard of setting parental controls. The Leviathan works on so many different levels. It sounds a little complicated and maybe I'm reading too far into it but it's something to think about.
Great post Rachel! Your example of parents as the leviathan is really interesting, especially since we are inclined to think of this “mortal god” who monitors our behavior and enforces norms as some distant, unfamiliar entity. What makes this case even more unique is that as a preteen, you were unaware of these restrictions, as there was no “sign on the door” to warn you of appropriate social norms and the consequences of not adhering to them. In this case however, because inappropriate behavior was not only banned, but virtually impossible due to the parental controls, there was no real threat of punishment. Here, the Leviathan served more of a preventative purpose than a punitive one. The fact that you didn’t initially know your actions were restricted indicates that this form of a Leviathan is probably highly effective, in that norms are adhered to without perceived oppression of freedom.
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