Space and Spacing: Psychological and Mental Health Wellbeing in Cyberspace in the more Traditional-cum-Contemporary Societies
Geoffrey Mbugua Wango, Jane Nyutu Gicharu, Rosaline Wanjue Kathuri.
Abstract
Digitalisation and the Internet are transforming all
facets of lives including our psychological and mental wellbeing. A greater
part of this transformation is in the configuration of space and spacing from
banking and shopping, health, education, finance, communication, to groupings,
chatting and dating. From a psychological and mental health perspective, aspect
of cyberspace including intrapersonal and interpersonal communication in turn significantly
affect our behaviour, attitude, emotions and decisions. Moreover, for people in
the more traditional-cum-contemporary societies, cyberspace has created new
spaces in the psychological and physical space that enables a ‘new’ virtual
social environment in which people can create, and re-create their space, meet,
negotiate, collaborate and exchange cultural ideas, goals and information.
Cyberspace is now a phenomenon which has radically transformed our world and is
pivotal to psychological and mental wellbeing fostering international
standards, collaboration and cooperation, thus, reducing barriers of cultural
and geographical space including in indigenous cultures. This paper explores
the psychological and mental health aspects of cyberspace in terms of the
social, behaviour, psychological and mental wellbeing, Cyberspace collates a
state-of-the-art knowledge into the social arena while the Psychology of the
Internet makes anecdotes in the ‘old’ and ‘new’ world order. Subsequently,
cyberspace, together with the advancement in science and technology, medicine
and other facets develop and advances emerging conceptualization of space.