Baym discusses in this chapter the threat of people and false identities when communicating online. I remember when I first began to communicate heavily online, back when myspace was the go to social network. I have met people from the internet, thankfully I have not had a “catfish” encounter but I do realize now that I am older and have heard stories of deception and tragedy, that this is not always the case. I am a very big fan of murder mystery and investigation television shows and you can always count on at least a few episodes in the series to circle around an internet relationship. That is why I named my blog, who are we when we can be anyone.
Turkle discusses the use of the internet as a means to escape reality and form a new identity. This is not the case for the blog that I chose to follow. The blogger is a traveler who has challenged herself to travel the United States and see what the country has to offer. Unlike some of the other blogs that I had the option of following, I have actually met this blogger in person. We had a chance meeting while I was at work and her personality was so dynamic and inviting and her story interesting, I decided to follow her blog. In her blog, I think that same personality that I had the pleasure of coming in contact with, shows through her posts. Call me young, naive, or unexperienced but that optimist in me believes that generally people are who they say they are. That is not to say that I trust everything that I hear, but I do believe in giving the benefit of the doubt as opposed to coming into the communication distrusting. I have had the pleasure of meeting amazing people via the internet and can honestly say that I would again.
Excellant post! I agree with you that we should always be careful, and never trust anything we see or hear, and that we should always have doubts so we would not get into something that would make us feel sorry later on. You also seem to have a very interesting blogger to follow. Thus, since she is a traveler that mean she is adventurer as well, so she must have a strong personality that is attractive as well which make you feel comfortable talking to her.
Our experiences are really similar. I remember my Myspace and heavy online communication days and meeting people from online too. I didn’t get a “catfish” experience either. These experiences probably helped fuel our optimism and make us believe people are who they say they are. It is very true, that now that I’m older, I realize how this is not the case for everyone. Like you, I wouldn’t change the experiences I’ve had. I’ve met some great people that I still hang out with today.
You have a valid point by mentioning your postive experiences online. It is human nature to focus on the negative and expect the worse, however, you give good examples that prove that online relationships can be real and become tangible. I like your point about Turkle’s view on internet identity being an escape for many people but you are able to keep your relationships via online and in reality. Your blogger sounds interesting.
really like you blog name it goes well with this module. On the internet we can take on the identity of anyone or thing that we want. We use pictures, blogs, social sites and other things in order to identify who we are. I have noticed that many people go through so much and just go through life not actually knowing who they are. So they take to blogs and other sites on the internet in order to get the opinion of others so they can try to develop the identity of who people want them to be.
I am glad to hear you have not had a Catfish experience! I have watched Catfish a few times myself. But, I’m like you in the fact that I don’t think meeting people online is always dangerous. My boyfriend and I actually met on a site called MeetMe, which used to be MyYearbook. We had started talking back in October, but I was dating other people and never really thought about meeting him in person. A few weeks ago, he went to an event with my best friend and I. He was even better in person than he seemed over the phone. We have a really good connection and I am enjoying being in a relationship with someone that actually likes me. Most of the time if someone is not who they say they are, there will be some kind of red flags that will indicate that.
I really enjoyed your post. You made an excellent choice for the blog assignment, as well. I really enjoy reading travel blogs myself. In any case, you make an excellent point about how the internet makes available to us glimpses into the lives of others we would normally not have ready access to. If we sit back and think about that for a minute, it’s incredibly exciting. The truth that we won’t be able to see and do everything in our brief lifetimes is, at times, a bit painful to swallow. But, with the advent of the internet, we have the opportunity to share in the experiences of others to varying degrees.