playing games online ( Discord 2020 ). Discord contains servers each of which can have rules governing what users of the server can and cannot do . The creator of servers can set up moderators ( real people ) and bots ( robots – artificial intelligence ) that can ensure the rules of the server are upheld by everyone ( Mohn 2020 ). Each server is made up of multiple messaging and voice channels – i . e ., a messaging channel dedicated to talking about food , a voice channel dedicated to playing music for people to listen to communally . There are over 100 million active users per month on Discord ( Brown 2020 ). Although each app holds similar capabilities , with a notable difference being the presence of moderators and bots in the Discord App , it will soon unfold how vastly different first-hand experiences can be lived , and worlds reflected , through the mobileas-mirror within each app .
One ordinarily becomes part of a WhatsApp group chat when going to University . Whether it be a group chat with the people you live with , and / or the course that you are on , and / or a social group that you become part of , many university students will attest to WhatsApp group chats as being the normal way of conversing on their mobile phones for both academic and social reasons . People may find however , that their role in each of these chats varies quite significantly . I am part of no less than 7 group chats on WhatsApp , varying from family group chats to friendship , from academic to professional , and each chat through the mobileas-mirror performs “ poesis ” in that they each “ bring forth worlds into presence ,
COMM733 producing and revealing them ” ( Frosh 2019 : xv ).
Take for example the fact that I am part of an academic WhatsApp group chat for my University Masters course mates and I to converse for both academic and social reasons . As I was the one who oversaw setting up this group chat , I personalised the settings so that only I could dictate what image was the group chat ’ s emblem , only I could allow access for people to join the group chat , and only I have the power to remove someone . Immediately a sort of authoritarian society comes to mind where I am solely in charge of the membership and image attributed to the group chat , and on a whim , I could remove people I do not like . Here , I have created a “ possible world … as alternative or refuge ” where it is my responsibility for its “ maintenance and disclosure ” ( Frosh 2019 : xix ). I am the person people come to when they want to join the group , and often I am the conductor and most contributing of conversation within the group . Indeed , research conducted on WhatsApp group chats encompassing 130 students in 2017 did in fact reveal that group managers participated more than other participants within a given group ( Galnitz 2018 ). However , when we realise that there are significant limits to my power – people can leave whenever they want as they are not forced to stay , and there are no rules as to what can be sent or said by anyone – it is revealed I am simply in charge of the functioning of the chat and not the content , it seems that the world reflected back through the mobileas-mirror is more likely a
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COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA