M2.1

I am very transparent or at least try to be, when it comes to what I share about myself online. I can somewhat be easily be found online, if someone is looking for me and has a few details about me like my name, country, age, etc. A line is drawn however, at the basic more personal details like address and phone number. So, while it might be easy to track me down online (which is intentional) I, and I hazard to guess most people, tend to be more comfortable having this virtual/physical barrier in place. Clearly exemplifying a separation of an online life and an offline one.

For the purpose of making as much of a connection as possible, with as little effort as possible, much of what I post is fanned out across multiple social media platforms, usually leading to a primary message. I believe this is the model for most of the social media we encounter in our daily lives. In my case, a link to this blog post will be posted on my Twitter account with a short description. The same would go for Facebook. Both Twitter and Facebook (among others) act as social media hubs where information is rapidly shared via links to news media, blogs, videos and other media ready to be consumed.

My online life and offline life are different by consequence of being online and offline (stay with me here), however, I am not pretending to be anyone different. The difference is a product of the interaction interface. Offline, we all have less time to react and must rely on given knowledge thereby giving way to a more true self coming through via face-to-face and real-time interactions. Online, there is time to react and more precisely craft reactions, responses and our representations of the self.

Maintaining alternate personas online is, to me, wasted time. It's time better spent being you, even if its just your own representation of yourself as opposed to your true self. Turkle explains interactions (specifically face-to-face interactions) are the best ways in which we can come to know our own true selves.

Again, I leave out real world contacts as to avoid unwanted online solicitations to come sweeping into my offline life. But, the intentional openness and ease to contact me, that I write about above, is still there. If you're looking to get into contact with me it will not be difficult. It's a kind of fight against the isolated social world, the illusion of a real one, that Turkle writes about in her New York Times article. To me, it is very 1984esque and I get the urge to toss my phone into Niagara Falls, yet it's still here in my pocket. Why? I cannot deny its power as a connective tool. While not perfect, I think as time goes on a balance will be struck, limiting social isolation and promoting more and more meaningful connections.

All in all, my online representation of myself is as true to life as possible. As online surveillance of an online self grows, its inevitable that real world connections will stem from initial online connections more often as online based social media grows and is increasingly popularized.