Personas

Two days ago Juka was wondering if we gave up instant messaging would we still be friends?  I  think so because well if we gave up instant messaging  we might not have a way to communicate.  I am guessing that our parents knew less people than we did and were much less connected than we are.  Mainly because if they didn’t see someone regularly that person just fell off their radar and lost touch with them.  Maybe our relationships are more superficial than their friendships but I am still sure that each one of us has close friends and family members with deeper connections just like our older generation did.  I think change is inevitable and the best thing to do is to embrace it.

I also love the fact that I can connect with people I might never have been able to with the use of technology.  My favorite example here is that I am following my favorite authors on Twitter.  I most probably will never really be friends with them but I do have a good chance on interacting with them.

My daughter and mother can talk to each other everyday and see each other using a web camera.  If we didn’t have that or if we decided to stop using IM two generations would not be able to connect.  I think that IM, social networks and other communications technologies are not the reason for the change in our social behavior but lots of other factors need to be accounted for to be able to find something to blame the changes on.  It is also a choice.  People who choose to connect with the people around them still get that, those who don’t get less meaningful and not so deep relationships.

I went off on a tangent, Juka mentioned something about people being fake online and I went on thinking about it.  Do we create fake alter egos for ourselves that we think look better to the outside world or are we just trying to project how we really just want the world to perceive us.  I think that even in the real world we are guilty of trying to look different to the world than we really are.  But is that a bad thing?  Isn’t it part of personal development and growth to be better people?  Isn’t that where the phrase “fake it till you make it” comes from?  If you start acting like something you can eventually be that thing.  Of course the extreme case would be the protagonist in the movie Catch me if you can, but I am talking about everyday normal folk.

I am aware of the persona I use on this blog. It is almost a mirror image of my real character and I am sure that the people who know me really well can attest to that.  The differences lie in where I draw the line to my personal privacy.  I still have a really huge personal space bubble in real life but it’s bigger online because well of security reasons.

In general I like the world to think of me as a happy, easy going, relaxed and interesting person.  I like to think that is who I am too.  Most of the time I am, but there are times when I am stressed out, unhappy or really boring, why should the world see that?  Or should they?

I don’t know, but I am sure I like to keep my issues to myself until I’ve figured out a way to deal with them.  It’s not an attempt to trick anyone or pretending to be someone I am not.

On another note, don’t we all play different roles depending on our setting?  Are you the exact same person with your parents, friends, cousins, coworkers, boss, etc?  I don’t think so.