Split Personalities

The internet provides a venue for us to, as discussed in the previous post, hide behind an avatar. Once safely nestled behind a cyber wall, what to do with this freedom? Some use it to bitch about movies or politics. Otherwise passive individuals cry out on the web, where they can suffer little punishment if identified. And that's a big "if." As a child who grew up as the net grew, my comprehension of the tool expanded as the technology itself did. How then do I use my online persona?

How I behave Online. 

I can't speak for all who lurk the web. Just me. So I'll compare my online self with my self self. Right? Right! On the internet, I find that I behave similarly to life, but in a more reckless manor. I might not go as far to call someone I disagree with politically a racist or insist they'd be better off dead. Most of the time at least. On CNN.com, you make up a name on the spot and comment. Maximum cloaking ability leads to infinite indulgence. Sometimes I stir up arguments as two personas just to see which gets more people to agree. The ridiculous nature of it all makes discussions online feel less authentic. The human connection is gone. Thus, I have no hesitation to go as far as I like online.

Real Life (Left), Internet (Right)

How I Behave Offline.

In real life, it isn't hard to see when someone's line has been crossed. Human interaction stops me from doing what apei147 may say. At first, this may seem to be less authentic than the online identity. The unfiltered me. The emotional connections, however they may hamper my ability to express my truest opinion, are real. The truth in the content of what I say may slip a touch, but the conversation is unequivocal.

There is no truer person than the one you live with everyday. The eYou is a mishmash of ideas. A fragmentary of your personality. Online you work through an Avatar, a representation as opposed to expressing yourself through, well, yourself. I work online under many names and say many things. Some of what I express online may be my deepest and most truthful thoughts, but can't find their way into reality. And as Batman says, "It's not what you say online, but what you do that defines you." Or something like that.