Over the popular five or so social media outlets that people
use there is always somewhere a space where people state or show who they
really are. This may be in their “about
me” on their Tumblr, in their about section on Facebook, or the types of things
they re-pin on Pinterest. In some way most people will make it know what they
are about and who they are. The thing that intrigues me is what these people,
including myself, post about themselves and what they choose to post. What
people post on their social media outlets is never really a whole or completely
true picture of their personality because they are choosing which parts of
themselves to show. I think this is true even if someone is honestly trying to
describe themselves in a bio or post. This is especially true on a site like
Tumblr where someone’s “about me” may not just be words that describe them
like: “Hi I’m Abby. 16. Tay Swift. 1D. Tacos. My BF. The Beach. Ya I’m going to
get a tattoo when I turn 18, whatta ya gonna do about it?” While looking at a
bio like this I only get a shallow view of who Abby really is, a view
completely controlled by Abby. In real life I can make my own judgments when I
meet someone, but on the internet the person presenting themselves dictates
what people know and sometimes even think of them. This shallow view of someone
is harder to present because you usually know someone when you are friends on
Facebook on top of the fact that photos and posts usually factor in to your
judgment of someone. In a world where millions of people are on social media
sites are we ever actually seeing people’s real personality? Can social media
ever recreate the experience of meeting someone in person and making the
judgments that you would when meeting someone in person?
You ask: "In a world where millions of people are on social media sites are we ever actually seeing people’s real personality?"
ReplyDeleteI've tried to publish this three times now and it's getting very frustrating. One of the major points of our readings is that social media has no become an important PART of personality/ identity. So that the right question is not yours but rather: how do social media sites articulate with overall identity? What is the relationship between online identity and off-line identity, if the latter can be supposed to still exist, that is?
I think the important distinction that Aaron makes is that online identity is more controlled, whereas off-line identity is subject to the judgements or views of others. WHile it is true that I certainly still judge people based on their "About Me" section or pictures on Facebook, the image that they put forth was completely chosen by them, and may be entirely different from the way they carry themselves off-line. I am interested in the question that if we control how people perceive us, are our interactions online manipulated and less genuine than our off-line interactions? Which ones are true interactions between our real selves?
ReplyDelete