In his novel, David Weinberger raises questions about the relationship between self identity and the internet. How do you present yourself online versus the way you present yourself in reality? I found this really interesting to read about because of my work on ‘Augmented Reality’ in Comms last semester (more on that later!)
David talks about the internet offering the promise of anonymity, which essentially means users are free to build a new identity for themselves in the online world. So, the way we construct our profiles on Facebook may be vastly different to the way we present ourselves to our teachers or family. However, having said this, it’s true that humans also present different versions of the self in the physical world. The way you act when interacting with your mum compared to how you act when bar hopping will possibly be vastly different! I think the point is though that the internet makes us actively think about self representation by giving us the tools to easily construct who it is we want the world to believe we are.
The idea of self representation online is really obvious if you look at online dating. Functioning as a mediator between the online world and the offline world, the sites allow users to create their own profiles and find their ideal match. More often than not, many users engage in some kind of misleading self-presentation on these sites to attract more promising partners. In this way, the internet allows people to create their ideal selves easily and project this image through cyberspace.
An interesting term that stuck with me from this reading was “internet intoxication” (Sounds deadly!). It basically acknowledges that the internet has an effect on human lives and can assist people to create new identities.
This constant discussion of identity is again scarily Comms like (WHO AM I?!) But in all seriousness, maybe what is so scary is that the internet asks us to consider who we are, who we want to be and gives us (and others) the tools to re-create ourselves.
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