Do you ever find that someone’s online personality differs greatly from their real life personality? That is, if you actually know them in real life? I get it, you can be however brave, witty, cool-under-pressure, as you want to be in your "online" personality because you could literally spend hours writing the-best-blog-post-ever, but it doesn’t change who you are in person.
I try really hard (why is it so hard?) to be myself on my blog, facebook, online whatever posts, and I find that I have grown as a person in being able to think before I speak, try not to judge, dare to not be cynical, etc., but is this really me? It might be more like the me that I want to be.
I feel really sorry for teens today. Do they even know who they really are in person? Forget who other people are, who are THEY? That is just a surface element when you consider cyber bullying, defamation, incriminating photos... I think back to my high school experience and definitely wouldn't want an unsolicited posting of my activities outside of the classroom.
The most recent episode of "How I Met Your Mother" discussed this topic when involved with the dating world. If you meet someone (in person or online), how many people look up their credentials first? This can create a pre-disposed opinion about someone. During the show, the character "Ted" made an agreement with his date that they wouldn't look each other up. He ended up clicking a link that said she was a billionaire/do-gooder and he instantly became intimidated, ruining the date.
Conversely, you don't want to meet up with a mass murderer either...
I am just lucky that I met my husband before he had facebook, in the conventional good old-fashioned way - at a bar with my friends. I guess I will have to add "online safety and privacy options for facebook" to the list of things I will need to teach my future children, but most importantly I want them to know who they are, in "real" life.
No comments:
Post a Comment