Lecture 16 – Virtual Environments - The Environmental Psychology of the Internet

People’s reliance on mobile communications and Internet technologies has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Today, there are nearly 5.5 billion cell phone users and two billion Internet users in the world. The explosive growth of digital information and communications have altered the structure of human environments and have had profound impacts on people’s behavior and well-being. This lecture examines the growing interdependence between our place-based and virtual environments and social relationships. The impacts of mobile communication and Internet technologies on a wide range of environments and institutions are examined, including neighborhoods, workplaces, and universities. The environmental psychology of virtual communities and behavior settings is illustrated through several examples drawn from Second Life, World of Warcraft, Facebook, and eBay. Also, the growing Digital Divide between information-poor and information-rich segments of the world’s population is discussed.