Social networking has given us the ability to create a second identity, but unlike our true identity the second one is only portrayed through electronic mediums. Therefore, this identity is all but the way we perceive ourselves put on social platforms. The problem is that this second identity is the culprit of the personal intimacy issues our society seems to be facing.
Being able to become whoever you want to be is very easy on social media sites. From picture uploads, retweets, post etc., we have the ability to form what others think about us. If someone wants to meet me in person after talking on a dating site, that of which I lied about my true identity, I am not going to reply or avoid having to meet that person in real life. This has given us the ability to avoid personal intimacy all together.
Furthermore, being able to turn off this second identity can be hard for many. Most people do not necessarily try to lie about who they are on social media, it is normally just how they perceive themselves, but sitting behind a screen with no personal interaction can cause many to create themselves as who they wish they were and not who they actually are.
I agree with your post. You hear more and more about people being addicted to the internet. I think that they become addicted to the person that they are pretending to be on the internet. It's sad to me that people don't value themselves enough to be themselves and they have to make up a fake identity to be able to feel better about themselves.
ReplyDeletePeople enjoy being able to create a different personality through social media. They get to be who they either already see themselves as, or be who they wish they could be in real life. People also enjoy social media because they are able to more freely speak their minds annoymously so that they don't have to deal with the possible consequences that come their way. This is why we have cyber-bullying and things of that nature. I also agree with the fact that people will actually start to believe the identity they created online and somehow think its actual reality.
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