With cyberspace, individuals are capable of creating a different person from them. Body language, physical appearances, facial expressions, and tone of voices are often removed with cyberspace interaction, which are all part of the real world. Individuals are more likely to lie about their real lives and build up something that they are not. For example, girls might only put a few of their best pictures and not their every day life pictures on their facebook account. Some of these pictures might not even look like the real person. "You can just be whoever you want really, whoever you have the capacity to be" (Whitley).
People are often more forward and outgoing out on their Internet site, rejection is easier to take since you can turn on and off your computer and there is no face to face interaction. Teen life is rapidly changing because teens are constantly connected via IM and text messaging(Gritner and Palen).
On the other side are the shy people who can socialize and have friends on the Internet. They do not have to worry about their feelings being hurt or that they are not good looking enough to have personal relationships. For these people, self identity is found on in cyberspace and it is a positive. It can especially help insecure people to learn to be comfortable so that they might have more confidence to socialize in the real world - face to face.
Because real world and cyberspace interactions are very different, stereotypes tend to play more of a role in the real world than in the cyber world. For example, if someone goes to my facebook page and all they see is basketball, they may categorize me as a an OCD basketball nut. But when they meet me in person, they will realize that basketball is important but not the most important thing in my life.
Race is something that might be stereotyped equally in both places, for example if you see me, a black student who plays basketball, you may automatically think that it is the only reason I am here at Carolina. Where if you see a white guy who plays basketball, you may think that he got in on his academics and walked on to the team.
The identity that an individual has in the real world is often different from that of the identity that they have in cyberspace. In some cases, this is an expansion of their actual identity and a way to express themselves freely. In some cases, however, people can strongly misrepresent themselves in cyberspace.
Do you agree or disagree that cyberspace has played and continues to play a very important role in the interaction of individuals? More importantly do believe that an individual’s identity can be misrepresented on the Internet?
WORKS CITED
Ayock , Anthony. "Where's Waldo? A Primer of People-Searching Online." Online 30 Januray 2006 4. 3 Feb 2009
This article is all about identity theft on the internet. If you put yourself on the internet in a certain way, you are targeted for identity theft.
Glazer, Harry. "Clever outreach or costly diversion." Coll REs Libr News 70 January 2009 6. 3 Feb 2009
A academic library at Rutgers evaluates the facebook experience. The research proves that
facebook is good serves both individuals and groups in an affective manner.
Grinter, Rebecca and Leysia Palen . "Instant Messaging in Teen Life." CSCW November 2002 10. 28 01 2009 .
This research studies the difference between middle school high school and college using instant messaging. Teenage communication is different with aim
Huberman, Bernardo, Daniel Romero, and Fang Wu . "Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope ." first monday 05 01 2009 11. 30 01 2009.
The point of the research is to find out are these people really friends or just say they are.
Whitley, Edgar . "In cyberspace all they see is your words ." OCLC Systems & Services 131997 17. 3 Feb 2009
“Examines the claims that cyberspace allows individuals to create sustainable new identities”.
I agree that cyber identity and real world identity are very different. As you said in your web blog many people can misrepresent themselves by putting up only good looking pictures even though they don't look like that on an everyday basis. I also agree with what you said about some shy people who represent themselves through cyberspace. They make feel more comfortable in talking about themselves through the internet rather than face to face. Some people do communicate better through the internet and it may give them more confidence about themselves if they get used to talking to other people. Some of the things that are represented on people'r profile can be stereotypical like race or common interests as you said.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the best way to get to know someone is through reao world identity because you get to communicate face to face so you can see what they really look like and you can also talk about interests, their race and other things that may be misunderstood through the internet.
I agree with your argument about cyber space. The statement when you mention shy people seems pretty accurate. I agree with you when you say shy people are more outgoing online. It is definately easier for these shy people to seem like they are not shy when talking to someone online. I like the example you gave when backing up the statement for shy people. You say it is easier to take rejection over the internet rather than face to face because if you get rejected online you can just turn the computer off and forget about it. If it was face to face this person might not know how to react to a situation like this because they are shy. After reading this argument I've realized how much easier it is for someone to communicate with another person over the internet even if they are shy.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you that identities can be misrepresented online and also that cyberspace identities differ from real world identities. Like you stated, identity misrepresentation can occur for various reasons. Sexual predators use it as a means to make contact with their targets and other insecure teens may use it to boost their reputation. These people that falsify their information are simply creating differences between their virtual and real identities to fulfill a certain goal. Nonetheless, online and virtual identities will have a larger impact on generations to come and the differences between these two forms of identity will be exposed even more.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that people will continue to use cyberspace to communicate with other people online. Especially since more and more people each day join Facebook, MySpace and other networking systems. Like you stated in your blog these things become a part of their daily lives. Some people may even become addicted therefore it also plays a significant role in the routine of cyberspace users. I also agree that anyone can be misrepresented on their profiles because there is not a way to illustrate all of you characteristics and you true personality on a networking page, but others do so intentionally by falsifying their identity. Viewers may often get the wrong idea of someone just because they do not know that person as a whole. It is better to get to know someone face-to-face because this is how you find out their true identity.
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