Sex in Cyberspace

Its hard to imagine a time when there wasn't pornography want so prevalent on the Internet when we are living in a time where even innocent searches on Google can yield pornographic results. It makes sense that that pornography has been able to flourish on the Internet. This is due to its delivery system that renders the viewer of pornography anonymous yet able to access hundreds of hours of pornographic footage and view millions of pornographic images all in the privacy of their own home. This may be seen as a positive development by a certain demographic but the impacts this abundance of Internet pornography has many negatives.

As many pornographic websites can be easily be accessed by anybody, there's very little that can be done to prevent children from accessing pornographic material. “The Internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards”. (Wired)
Measures can be taken to try and block children from accessing pornographic websites of any website with objectional material however the majority are designed so they can be turned off and on by non-techsavy parents, so children that have grown up with computers can usually get around the filters and access the websites their parents do not wish them to.

Internet Pornography is a huge industry such estimate that the money going in to Internet sex is in the billions each year, and more then 20 percent of Internet users have accessed an 'adult site' (Women and the Web). Forgetting the social problems this industry causes such as body and self image problems, there is money being made from illegal sexual activities such as paedophilia. The Internet provides a virtual meeting place for people producing child porn and people seeking it. As the producers and viewers of child porn can be spread across the globe, this posses a problem for prosecutors trying to uphold the law. There may be more of an incentive to create child porn as sadly there is a market for it all over the world, and money to be made.

Pornography did not suddenly appear when the Internet was created, it has been around in different forms for hundreds of years. The Internet has been the most effective distribution tool of the Pornography Industry however, and it can be said has created a pornographic revolution. This is a problem as many of Internet users are under the age of 18, the age mandated by most western countries to be allowed to view pornography. Most legitimate pornographic websites have disclaimers advising people under the age of 18 not to enter the website, but this depends on the honesty of the person accessing the website.

The pornography industry has boomed on the Internet and probably will remain strong until/if a new delivery system is invented. Porn is a big part of the Internet and this quote from Scrubs sums this fact up nicely “I'm fairly sure that if they took all the porn off the Internet, there would be only be 1 website left, and it would be called Bring Back The Porn”

References:

Link 1: 'Internet Porn: Worse than Crack?' by Ryan Singel

Link 2: 'Women and the Web: Cybersex Activity and Implications' by Marnie C. Ferree.

“Shared experiences create a sense of reality”

Video games like Second Life can create an alternate reality in which people can escape their normal lives and be someone else in a virtual world, but I believe the vast majority of people are able to distinguish the game world from the real world. As technology improves however, it may be hard for people to make this distinction.

Online gaming addiction has seen people engross themselves in online communities while alienating themselves from the real world. The attraction comes from the experiences online games like Second Life can offer players. People that may be unhappy with their life can log onto online worlds and create an avatar that can embody every characteristic the player wishes they had. This has ensured that these game worlds are usually filled with avatars who conform to the beauty ideals generated by popular media in society. Its no wonder people would rather be logged on to a game such as Second Life and feel what it is like to be somebody they are not.
>As many online games offer crude graphics compared to console games and PC games, their ability to addict people may be inhibited, but as the graphics improve, games such as Second Life may draw in bigger audiences with more people becoming addicted and neglecting the real world. This is due to the increased realism that improved graphics can deliver. New technologies including 3d can increase realism and therefore immersion. To accept an online game as an extension of reality rather then just a game, allowances have to be made by players so they can immerse themselves in these online games. Allowances such as ignoring the many aspects in which the games cannot simulate reality or even a believable alternate reality.
>As the technology behind video games is rapidly advancing, In the future people may find it harder to leave the virtual worlds created by their video games to function in the real world. It is possible that video games will be able to stimulate all of the senses in such a way that gives people the ability to have an experience that seems completely real. So why would people want to leave the virtual world where they could do extraordinary things, for the real world which is full of problems.
>The statement 'the suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief' is true in the sense that many people wish that they could become either similar or identical to their Avatar, however I do not see it becoming a problem to technology reaches a level where games can simulate real life effectively enough for people to question whether the game world is the real world.