Study Questions

1. Do you behave, or have you ever behaved, online or using any form of digital/mobile technology in ways that you would not risk in “real life”? Why do you think that sometimes different rules and moral codes apply in cyberspace?

2. Both this chapter and the preceding one have highlighted that we live in a scopophilic, synoptic society. What are the social messages underpinning this “mass looking exercise” (Coleman & McCahill, 2010)? Exactly what is being looked at and with what social consequences?

3. What do you understand by the term “digital divide”? Can it be applied in local as well as global contexts?

4. Are there negative consequences of the democratization of access to information that the Internet has brought?

5. How newsworthy is cybercrime? Give reasons for your answer.