Shapinskaya Ekaterina Nikolaevna,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Deputy Director of the Expert-Analytical center
for Development of Educational Systems
in the sphere of culture,
Lykhachev Russian Research Institute
for Cultural and Natural Heritage
e-mail: reenash@mail.ru

 

Escapism in cyberspace: Boundless Opportunities and New Dangers

Abstract: The article deals with specific features of escapism in the space of Internet. Three main problems are put forward: what are the features of cyberspace, what are its attractions for human being and what dangers does it contain. Special attention is given to the contradictory nature of technologies playing the key role in contemporary culture. On the one hand, they are the embodiment of the triumph of rational science, on the other hand they are becoming the medium for transmitting fantastic ideas and images, acquiring thus magic qualities. Virtual worlds of Internet are regarded as a part of postmodern culture with its accent on endless fragmentation and rhizome-like construction. Escapist has endless possibilities in this space. Such domains of human life as religion, love and art, especially attractive for an escapist, have been examined in the article. Different religious cults and magic practices are flourishing in the Net creating an eclectic picture of spiritual life allowing people to realize most contradictory and irrational drives. Love in the Net is also a possibility to realize in virtual life the hopes that did not come true in reality. Art in its digital form presents unlimited opportunities both from the point of view of perception and self-realization. The article also deals with dangers of computer escapism connected with the possibility of total immersion in virtual worlds and the difficulty of returning to “primary” reality and also with the problem of human subject who has lost orientation in real/virtual world and is facing grave problems in real life.

Key words: Escapism, culture, cyberspace, virtual reality, Internet, identity, religion, love, art, postmodernism, subject, fragmentation.

[1] Different types of escapism and ways of their realization were analyzed by the author in the articles: Shapinskaya E.N. Dynamics of Daily Life and the Phenomenon of Escapism // Culture and Art. 2011. № 4; Shapinskaya E.N. Journey to the East as an Escape from Everyday Life: the Phenomenon of Tourist Escapism // International Journal of Cultural Studies. 2011. № 4.
[2] Giddens A. The Transformation of Intimacy. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2004.
[3] Orlova E.A. Sociology of Culture. M., Akademproekt, 2012.
[4] The concept of "post-culture" is explained in the article: Shapinsky E.N. Cultural Discourse After Postmodernism // Observatory of Culture. 2010. № 6.
[5] Poster M. Second media Age. L.-NY.: Polity Press, 1995.
[6] Hardison O.B. Disappearing through the Skylight. NY.-L: Penguin, 1989.
[7] Davis E. Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information. M.: Ultra, 2008.
[8] Eco U. Six Walks in the Fictional Woods. M.: Symposium, 2002.
[9] Khachaturyan V.M. "Second Life" of Antiquity: Archaizing Trends in Civilization Process. M.: Akademproekt, 2009.
[10] Virilio P. Information Bomb. Strategy of Deception. M.: Gnosis, 2002.
[11] Dery M. Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century. M.: Ultra, 2008.