When thinking about the different types of Leviathans on the Internet that I have encountered I remembered back to my first "warning" on AIM. It was in middle school when I looked at my AIM and noticed that I had a 10% warning level on my screen name. At the time I was confused and did not understand. I did not know about the Leviathan on AIM that allowed people to warn others because someone would be following up on that report. Further, after inquiring about this warning to one of my friends I had no idea how or why I was warned on AIM.
The fact that everyone could see that I had been bad and gotten warned made me feel terrible especially because I did not know of anything bad that I could have done. This feeling was definitely the "raised brow" because when some of my friends who saw my warning asked me about what I did I felt a horrible shame for something I didn't even understand.
This sense that there is someone looking over you, a god-like figure really rings true with my experience with warnings on AIM. If there was no meaning behind "warning" someone the Leviathan would have no presence. However, due to the strong social acceptance that it holds the "warning" held a great significance on my behavior. From then on, I felt the need to question what I did online and to be careful not to offend anyone, despite the fact that I had no recollection of doing so in the first place. This Leviathan has got a hold over the AIM psychological space and is enforced and respected by most and holds a strong "raised brow" against those who do not.
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2 comments:
I had forgotten about that warning thing on AIM! I switched from a PC to a Mac a few years ago and I now use iChat, not AIM, which doesn't have that warning feature. But I remember always being confused about the meaning behind the warning notification. What happens when you reach a certain warning level? Do you get kicked off AIM? If so, this is a perfect example of the Leviathan.
Margarethe,
I like the way you applied the Leviathan to a somewhat different medium. I think in some ways, the warning concept on AIM represented more of an abstract Leviathan because anyone could warn anyone, and AIM didn't ask for a reason that had to be legitimized by any superior. If abused, the warning could have an opposite effect, even. I remember liking a boy back when the extent of relationships was writing "I Love _____" on your hand with jelly pens, and we used to warn each other as a means of flirting. In other words, the Leviathan backfired, becuase I felt cool that I had been warned. Good post, though.
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