Our Online Identities
I have often pondered: Do we stray from our real identities when online? Do we become different due to the extended amount of freedom or anonymity we are given on the web? I suppose it depends on the person. However, in my experience I have found that my personality is exactly the same online as it is offline.
In today’s online social world, we become members of different communities. We make names for ourselves in these communities and contribute to them. We meet many friends around the world, share videos, stories, and pics from our lives. We invite these friends into our worlds because as humans we still share a need to bond with others even if it is only a virtual bond. People today lead lives dedicated more to their StumbleUpon networks or Warcraft guilds rather than to their real life families. Therefore what good would we be doing by deceiving our community? We are leading virtual lives today. Many of us spend more hours online each day than offline (I know I do), therefore we should cherish these new bonds we created. Perhaps the real question we should be asking ourselves is: “ Do we stray from our real selves when we’re offline?”
Thanks to Yaniv Golan for the amazing pic.
Technorati tags: identity, net identity, flickr, web, freedom, anonymity, community, online community, social networks, stumbleupon, warcraft
April 19th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I like what you wrote – “Perhaps the real question we should be asking ourselves is: b Do we stray from our real selves when web re offline?b
Very few people ask this question.
I find the virtual world liberating. Not because we can invent new identities, pretend to be somebody else. Too many people rushed to do this after discovering the virtual world. They felt trapped inside the person they had become in the “real” (let’s call it “physical” world). And they thought that the only way to escape was to invent a new self – sometimes a new age, nationality, picture, and maybe even gender. They thought that this was a clever use of imagination, when, in fact, it was simply a lack of imagination. For what they didn’t realize, and would never realize – as long as they continued to hide behind a mask – was that they were simply in a search for “self”, trying to discover who they really are. The virtual world, through the many windows it opens, allows us discover more and more about who we really are, without the need to wear masks. We can join new communities, and find our place there. Meet people from many walks of life that we may have never met, and interact with them. The wider our scope, the wider our experience, the deeper we delve into ourselves and into others – the more we learn about ourselves. The closer we become towards our real self.
And yes, in answer to your question, I think we stray more from our real self when offline, for we remained trapped within a limited world, limited in vision, opportunity and experience.
We have to learn to find a balance between these two worlds. Not look at either as a means of escape, but rather as an opportunity to dig deeper into ourselves.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Thanks graham. You’ve raised some very interesting points. I like what you say here: “The virtual world allows us to discover more and more about who we really are….the more we learn about ourselves, the closer we become towards our real selves”.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:56 am
Interesting post:
http://quasifictionalviews.blogspot.com/2007/01/online-identity.html
May 31st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Dio:
You are right. Dating sites especially are suffering from the issue of fake online identities.
However, I believe that most people on the social networks are relatively honest about who they are.