Question Response

Whither the Individual?
As we join groups and social networks from affinity sites to Facebook, are we extending and expanding identities, or increasingly conforming to the cookie-cutter profiles demanded of these interfaces? Is the loss of "personal space" and "reflection" so many users complain of merely the necessary surrender of "ego" as we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people?"
(you may want to re-watch "bubbie" and "warcraft" sections of digital nation)

I really haven?t given much thought to this topic until I started realizing that it was happening to my profiles and online groups. I never really gave into the thought of having a cookie cutter profile and how even thought I post so much of my every day life online that I am actually molding myself into a very narrow person that people see.

Because now we live in a world where the majority of the time, besides our closest friends, we talk to each other via devices such as social media sites like Facebook, Google Mail, MySpace, or cell phones, I figured that people knew who I was already before I added them to be able to view my online profiles. However, after learning about the idea that we are only putting out what we want people to see, I have in fact noticed myself thinking differently of people because of what they put out on their Facebook pages.

For example, I had an old roommate and she was a nice girl and then we both transferred schools. Now that I don?t see her anymore, the only thing I see her post about is how much she loves her ?hubby.? Now when I see a status of hers coming up, I can already guess what it?s going to be about. I wouldn?t say that I?m addicting more than anyone else to these sites, that is why I found it so interesting. I go on every day to my Facebook, but if I notice things like that so easily, then maybe we are only putting out a small glimpse of ourselves when really we have put out so much personal information.

I think we are definitely hindering our ?reality personalities? and narrowing down out room to grow by having such personal online profiles. The video Digital Nation we watched in class, I have seen before but I definitely paid more attention this time and I find that I?m really disgusted with how people abuse the internet and tend to neglect their own reality. I also think that it is a true illness and it may sound absurd, but I would put money on it that in 50 years there are many more counseling centers and diagnosis for disorders related to communication addiction.

Since we can?t go back in time and change the way the internet has opened our availability to information, we can only learn how to use it now in a way that is better for our society. In the scheme of things, this world we live in of a surplus of technology has not been around long and if people in other countries have died from overexposure to gaming devices and social media sites because they?re neglecting their health and mental being in real life then I would definitely say there is a problem.

Schools would be where I started to change how we use the internet. Children learn quickly and if they recognize the effects of what overexposure to the internet can do then they will learn to appreciate it more. Cyber-bullying, racism, sexism, etc? all can be controlled by being ?safe? on the internet and I think before we really hinder our personalities, we should learn how to control internet use.