Socio-cognitive destruction: Reality or fiction?- And the imperative of ethics

Abstract

The Web 2.0 has become a buzzword that is used to illustrate a wide range of online activities and applications. In fact, Web 2.0 enhances tremendously the chance to detect and re-examine cognitive, social psychological and interpersonal communication models. Moreover, cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to debate the following questions: do Web 2.0 create cognitive dissonance? In what extent? What are the consequences for younger people? And, does computer ethics may help?