1. VIRTUALLY YOU: THE DANGEROUS POWERS OF THE E-PERSONALITY WRITTEN BY: ELIAS ABOUJAOUDE, MD REPORT BY: JULIANA SHANK IS THE INTERNET THE CAUSE OF TODAY’S ISSUES IN SOCIETY?

2. WHAT IS AN E-PERSONALITY?  An e-personality is defined as someone’s online personality  It can be similar to your personality in real life or polar opposite  The internet gives us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves  Online people are able to revamp their lives, make themselves more interesting or completely change their identity  Once this new identity is created, it is hard to go back to reality

3. THE INTERNET AND OUR DARK SIDE  The internet has the ability to bring out the worst in us  Spyware  Plagiarism  Online poker and other gambling sites  Online shopping  Sexual content

4. ANONYMITY  Because of anonymity common courtesy can be abandoned  People think their actions do not matter and cannot be traced back to them  Myspace Suicide Hoax  Mother, Lori Drew, pretended to be a teenage boy and flirted with thirteen-year-old Megan Meier before beginning to insult her on a personal level  Lori did this because she resented Megan for making mean remarks to her daughter  Lori’s actions led to Megan’s suicide

5. COMMUNICATION  Due to the many forms of communication via the internet, face to face communication has decreased  Virtual worlds, text messaging, email, instant messaging  More casual with our messages and vocabulary  Harder to understand context because you cannot see facial expressions or body language  It has become a sign of disrespect to not reply to a message instantly  More drastic effects  Texting while driving

6. RELATIONSHIPS  Through the internet, relationships have changed  Dating websites (Match.com, EHarmony)  Positive effects  Increases odds of meeting someone  Negative effects  Using false information or different identity  Relationships formed based off lies  People can hide details about personal life

7. THE ILLUSION OF KNOWLEDGE  We are able to look up anything within seconds, giving us the illusion of being knowledgeable  We don’t take the time to actually process and learn information because its so accessible  People can memorize facts but not actually explain them  Major effects on intelligence especially for young children growing up with the internet  Any kind of information can be found online  Aboujaoude gives the example of an anorexic girl who looked up symptoms of depression in order to try to get prescribed an anti-depressant that would suppress her appetite

8. DO I AGREE WITH ABOUJAOUDE?  Aboujaoude’s main point of Virtually You is to place the blame for most of today’s issues on the internet.  The internet cannot be held entirely responsible; we need to learn how to handle the amount of power it gives.  It isn’t the internet’s fault; it is our way of using it.

9. HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THIS CLASS?  In this class we talked about the history of the internet, the pros and the cons of the internet, etc.  In the book, Aboujaoude mostly focuses on the cons  A lot of the examples the author gives relate to the topics we covered in class

10. WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK?  I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book if you are looking for an enjoyable read  It is very informative and was a good book to read for class  The examples the author gives are very interesting

11. THANKS FOR LISTENING! QUESTIONS?