Meeting people online is complicated, because you have to wonder if the person you are meeting is the person they say they really are. It is hard to trust or to believe everything that is online. There is more room to lie online than in person. You can hide many things or pose as someone you are not. Being in the privacy of your home and being online with no one else watching might give someone the liberty or freedom to lie. Yet, there are those that might feel more comfortable being even more honest than they would be in person. This depends from person to person, because the affordances are different.
I find the virtual games very interesting, because it does give people the opportunity to play different roles. To what point do they believe they are really those other people? Also, sometimes being someone other than yourself might be so satisfying that it becomes addicting to play on these virtual sites. “Role playing games can serve in this advocate capacity because they stand betwixt and between the unreal and real: they are a game and something more” (Turkle, 1995). A player described his playing as becoming more than the person they play “you are who you pretend to be”. This was very interesting because I imagine this is how they find satisfaction in virtual role playing.
The blog that I am looking at shows some characteristics of online role playing and the type of identity they are trying to portray, but I think only to a certain extent. My blogger is a first time mom, and I am sure she portrays herself as a good mother, or a new mother who is trying her best to be great, but I doubt she would write something that would make her look like a horrible mother. Then she would have child services at her door by now. She is playing the role of the character of the title of her blog. However, it is still her because in real life she is still this mother, but maybe online she might be this super exiciting mom, or maybe what we see is what we get. It is hard to say without knowing the person, but from what I have read she seems like a really cool mom. And maybe blogging gives her the freedom and opportunity to be more honest than she would be in person because she has time to think, reason, and write about her thoughts on motherhood. Just my opinion.
For the Catfish out there, I think the isolation often associated with online relationships/interactions – in the cases in which the admittedly often over-emphasized stereotype rings true – creates an environment in which some people feel, to varying degrees, separated from reality. As such, some feel more free to represent themselves in ways they might never choose to in “reality.” You also made a great point in saying that some feel free to be more honest. However, I think that also gives us the platform on which we most often discuss civility on the internet. In other words, is complete honesty always the best policy?
You bring up a good point about the blogger having more time to think and reason when creating her content than she would in offline. I certainly think there are those who are very witty and funny in person and can think fast on their feet. Their are others who are not so good with rapid, face-to-face responses but who are much more adept at being humorous, entertaining and/or informative online. In a similar way, the Walther article looked at online self-presentation motivations, which were affected by who the recipients were perceived to be.
Blogging about motherhood stands in opposition to the act itself. You confirmed what Baym says about having time to think about her thoughts on her role as mother when writing, which is different than the in the moment decisions one makes when taking on the role of mother. I’ve read several blogs by young mothers and I often find desperation in their posts to justify the decisions they have to make when they don’t have time to think and reason, only react. They almost seem defensive in posts, which re-forces the “working out that Turkle addresses in this article.
I agree with you in that it’s difficult to believe and/or trust everything online these days. In virtual sites, it’s easy and typical for people to pose as entirely different people. This is a common occurance in dating websites and virtual games, like those mentioned in your blog. There are many people who don’t trust these, and for good reason. Not learning of someone’s true identity could lead to possible abduction or rape. While rare, this possible scenario must be put into consideration before something bad happens, and is related to this.