Away Messages, Freud & B. F. Skinner Have What in common? Conclusion

So what is it that Away Messages, Freud and B.F. Skinner have in common? They are all interactive systems that are contributing to the disconnectivity of the most connect generation, through the individuals need for social interaction/dependency, which is fueled by sporadic reinforcement and implicit knowledge that someone is reading "my" away message . This conception was mentioned in Generation Me by Jean Twenge, however not entirely in this regard.

It is a common fact that almost all AIM users have people on their buddy list they barely or don't speak with at all. I know of some individual's who have created other screen names to avoid all the people on their other screen name's buddy list. But the former and the latter persons continually post away messages (in my experience, sometimes the same ones!). The big question is why. Several ideas will be discussed in relation to the title.

There is a good chance that the people posting the majority of away messages are those who feel socially disconnected. We can infinitely create reasons why the disconnectivity may be occurring, however the most prominent reason, in my belief, is what Jean Twenge speaks of in her book: Generation Me. We are increasingly becoming more and more self centered, less involved in political matters and more individualized. We are somewhat "forced" to dependent more and more on ourselves, as if relying on others is a bad thing. I've heard from countless people I've spoken with about this issue and simply in general "You only have yourself." A true but sad statement! It's natural to want to depend on others and feel a sense of connectivity, but also to be independent. It is as if we took the latter part to literally and are now expressing ourselves to everyone and anyone who will listen. Everyone followed the advice be your own person... but to the extreme. Everyone followed the advice take care of yourself... but to the extreme of, only yourself.

I integrated Freud & B.F. Skinner into the model for a particular reason. Freud because of two reasons: Reaction formation - turning unacceptable impulses into their opposite and expression that; and Dependency. I incorporated Skinner because of his large contribution to learning theory. The way these conceptions interact is this. The unacceptable impulse is to be taken care of for two reasons 1. the emphasis and rise of capitalism discourages dependency on others, 2. to Freud becoming independent is a process that we move away from as we grow old. We move through primary to secondary processes etc. This is our reaction formation, we want to be dependent or at the very least socially connected (this is more realistic), but cannot. So we've gone completely in the opposite direction (narcissism/self centered), one that is supplemented by the morals of capitalism. So in turn we are reaching out to discover any means by which to feel connected again, in this instance, away messages.

Skinner simply gives us the means by which this behavior is encouraged and kept in tact. There is always that chance someone will read your away message. More importantly though, when it is directed at someone, there is a chance they will read it as well. If the individual somehow receives feedback, either in person or through an instant message the behavior is reinforced. In particular, reinforcement need not be so obvious, so direct! It can be self-reinforcing, through the faulty, perhaps erroneous assumption that "someone may be reading this, and I just don't know." You can in fact read away messages without the poster's knowledge of your reading it.

Several hypothesis can be drawn from this new understanding.

a) Individuals who post more away messages will have higher needs for dependency.
b) Individuals who post away messages for longer lengths of time will have higher needs for dependency.
c) Individuals who post expecting their away messages to be read will reside higher in the NPI (narcissistic personality inventory) than those who have no such expectations.
d) Individuals who read away messages will have higher needs for dependency but also expressed an increased need for connectivity.
e) Upon reinforcing an away messages that resides in either side (left or right) of the 3 factor model, subsequent away messages will increase in the direction.
f) Those who are higher in dependency and posting away messages will be more satisfied than those who are high in dependency and not posting away messages.

In short, away messages are contributing to the increased disconnectivity of the most connected generation ever. One need not look very far for away messages, blog postings, journal entries etc, that are speaking to people they never met. They're sharing the same information with best friends and total strangers. Blog postings on myspace.com accounts that are public, talk about falling, needing help, being lonely and so many horrid emotions we should all hope never to feel. But they decide to post it publicly among friends and strangers alike. I just ask the question. Are we that desperate to be heard?