Which person is real? Is it the normal person that is inhibited by social views, that holds their thoughts in with fears of social exclusion?, or is it the person who can be whomever they wish online? In Ullman's article, she discusses the different between her physical and virtual self. In everyday life, she acts like a normal programmer. However, during the night she becomes her true self. She expresses herself in a new manner, without any fear of criticism. Ullman and I share many similarities in this way. In life people are held in by their fears of how they look and how they will sound, but online they can become their true self. In the movie, The Matrix, Morpheus talks about our real and virtual perceptions of ourselves. When Neo re-enters the Matrix he is his own virtual representation of himself. This is true with Ullman's email relationship. In the office she becomes what society says is "normal," but in her emails she releases a side of herself that is new and unseen. She shows her own virtual representation of herself: not as an image but as a persona.
Although we have many similarities, we also have many differences. Because this article was written 12 years ago, there are many time gap issues. The functionality of email has changed and now has become a more formal type of interaction. Today the main interactions are on social networking websites. Instead of shooting a flirty email, a friendly poke is substituted. These websites have similar security provisions. Ullman was careful to be very business like when talking to him in a public setting, but in emails became more intimate. On Facebook, walls and comments are viewable by all, but a private message could simulate the intimate interaction Ullman demonstrated.
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In the internet, anyone is no one and no one is anyone. Its where a person can be free from their identity and be anything. I like How you connect that concept with Ullman's changed behavior on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI also emphasized how different it was to grow up with this kind of technology as opposed to encountering it later in life. It makes our interpersonal relationships at different ages consequently very different. We all had the kind of relationship that Ullman had in middle school. It is interesting to think about how different it was for other generations.
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