So Much Cooler Online

It seems very evident to us, and as pointed out by Woods and Smith, that communication via the internet is an interactive process. Instead of being a passive viewer, the internet with chat rooms, blogs, and other features, allows us to be interactive with one another. It allows us the opportunity to have communications with others via e-mail, blogs, or chat rooms. In Brad Paisleys video, he is making fun of the fact that many people use the internet as a way of creating an alternate, “cooler” self. By setting up profiles in chat rooms, people are able to create false identities, and become “so much cooler online” than they are in real life.

George Costanza created an identity for himself online in which he was taller, had a nice car, and was able to interact calmly with multiple women. However, in reality, he lived in his parent’s basement, was short, and played with star wars toys. He was also too nervous to interact with the girl who lived across the street from him, whereas online he was able to “chat with three women at one time”. The internet allowed George to become a different person online. Postman talks about the changes in morals that technologies brings, and I believe that applies to the way we use the internet too. With or without realizing it, I think that chat rooms, blogs, and other interactions on the internet are changing our moral values as a society. Is it a lie to reveal parts of ourselves online, but leave other crucial things out, or distort the facts?

This video shows us that people are not the same when they communicate online versus online. Using the internet allows people to have the ability to create identities for themselves. A shy person can be very outgoing online because no one sees their face. A person only has to reveal certain things online and can keep secrets or make up lies with very little chance of being caught. It is good that a person can use the internet to become whoever they want online, but it also teaches us that we need to caution who we meet online. If we are telling lies, or only revealing certain parts of our personalities online, it is likely that the people we are talking to are doing the same thing.

Even while we are taking this course and completing our blog assignments, we only reveal the things about ourselves that we want others to know. We do not ever have to show our true identities, post our real pictures, or write anything that would embarrass us. Also, as a shy person, I think that an online class actually allows me to communicate and interact more with my peers than I would in a normal classroom situation. I am a person who likes to have time to formulate responses, and thus, in a classroom, am rather quiet. This is an advantage to me, but it also shows that I am a different person online than I am in real life.