Online we can be who we want. We can choose the represent ourselves as we wish. It might be an accurate representation or an idealized version of our selves. Some dogs I know actually have Facebook accounts. When we go online what do ‘we’ become? Are we just lines of information, a bodiless consciousness and do we still have to behave within societies rules?
There are different platforms online that we can use to represent ourselves, and if we wanted to we could become different people on each platform. With the majority of students having a Facebook page as their homepage it’s become a platform for individual expression. Before its existence people were using yahoo geocities to represent themselves. It did require some basic programing knowledge to set up, but now you can create a homepage without ever having to see or write any algorithms. They are still there but in the background so to speak.
Essentially you’re displaying the same information about yourself. From political views though to what music you like. We can use our homepages however to mislead people if we wished, so does that raise any trust issues? I have to admit to censoring certain aspects of my life on my own Facebook page. Untagging myself in unflattering pictures or trying to hide the evidence of a night out. It’s all because I’m very aware that if for example a prospective employer decides to Google me I don’t want to be seen as irresponsible. Am I misrepresenting myself? On Facebook you’re in an online community built up of your friends, but if you haven’t fixed your security settings then your information can be seen by anyone at any time. Also because we are choosing who we want to be a part of our online community are we being more discriminate? I’ve heard the term ‘Facebook snob’ used before but still think people have a right to choose who they allow to see their information and how they represent themselves.
Online you can assume any character such as a fictional character or even a famous person. How do you really know who you’re interacting with, and if you have a conversation on a forum does that mean you would get along in real life? Not necessarily and we have all heard horror stories of people meeting online and discovering they weren’t who they said they were, or even a new modern problem of cyber stalking. You can find peoples CVs online with their contact details and addresses. Are we giving out too much information about ourselves? 
No comments:
Post a Comment