These two readings were both extremely interesting and very insightful. People really do seem to believe that there are only two types of people online: those who are lying and those who are being honest. I have always believed, however, that our online personas are a combination of our true selves and the versions of ourselves we wish we could be. I think Baym perfectly explained this, by referencing the idea of impression management. She writes, “This impression management may involve outright deception, total honesty, or, most often, a strategic balance of sharing, withholding, and distorting information.”(108.)This is a great point, because most people online are not complete liars. However, most people online are not telling the complete truth either! I definitely think that the majority of online users are applying some form of strategic impression management with their online personas. After all, how many people re-read their tweet before sending it to make sure its perfect, or obsess over which of one of the basically identical filters to use on Instagram. People desire to express both a true version of themselves, while also showcasing the version of themselves they would like to be. I thought about that idea a lot while I was reading Turkle’s explanation of how people design their online avatars in MUD gaming. People are creating these fantasy characters, but they are also giving them a little bit of their own personal appearance. The blogger I follow, for instance, is The Feminine Miss Geek, and her blog is devoted mainly to all things “geek.” Star wars, comic con, comic books,video games, if its considered “geeky”, she writes about it. While the main blog features her avatar, which is an adorable pink haired girl in black thick framed hipster glass, her about section actually has a real life picture of herself. I found it interesting to look at the avatar she created for herself next to the real picture she posted. There are similarities, such as brown eyes on both and black rimmed glasses, but pretty much everything else was completely different. She had taken pieces of her offline persona and meshed them into her online persona. The idea of taking all the different facets of yourself and using them online is an incredibly fascinating idea.
7 thoughts on “Online and Offline Identity”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You brought up a good point about people obsessing over the image that they put on the internet. I am definitely guilty of obsessing over grammar in my tweets and I have friends who obsess over the filters they place on instagram. We are indeed trying to combine a version of our true selves and a touch of who we desire to be.
I see that everybody is talking about honesty…That’s great, but let’s be more reasonable here. Who said that we have to be like an open book to everyby,especially, in CMC. We must have some privacy and few things that we should not share with anybody. All my sisters in law they have a joint account with their husbands on Facebook, except me. Not because I’m married to this person that mean I should share with him my social accounts. I like to have a certain part in my life for myself ONLY and not share this part with anybody whether it is online or offline. This is does not mean that I’m hiding something or doing something wrong or even have more than identity, but this is me and I like it this way.
I agree. We do use a combination of both. We want to be real but we want others to see the best version of ourselves. We want to be the best versions of ourselves. I don’t think it’s exclusive to online communication. It’s just something we want whether we communicate online or offline. It might be a little easier to get away with these best representations online though.
I also agree with the idea of impression managment. The internet has given us all a play ground to say what we want others to think and really have no liablity to validate it. I like your point about how many people obsess about what they are going to “randomly” post on social networking sites.
One thing I notice is that people will post something then delete it? I guess they had to think about what they said once they already put it out there on the interenet, where things are multiplied, saved, and stored. There really isn’t a “delete” option. Choosing your persona carefully is a wise choice.
You are completely right, There really isn’t a “delete” option! I was just recently made aware that deleted tweets are still there, in your archived section, for anyone to stumble across. Yikes!
“It would be naïve to imagine that people do not deceive online…however, most lies told through the wonders of technology’s affordances are minor strategic manipulations rather than malevolent falsehoods” (Baym, 117). It’s just little enhancements here and there, to create a better overall presentation of ourselves. It’s not dishonesty so much as it is strategic omissions, additions, and ambiguity.
I like your statement about ‘who we wish we could be.’ If you have the ability to show the better side of yourself, why wouldn’t you at least try? Maybe you can end up fulfilling that ideal persona and potentially become a better person online and off.
I thought the point you made about your blogger’s avatars and the two different people in the photos was really interesting. The people we are in reality and the ways we imagine ourselves are often vasty different.