Identity & relationships online
I do not think that withholding your full identity in certain circumstances is ethically wrong. On such things as forums and chat rooms for example i don't think it's a problem to just put your first name or a nickname instead of your full name as it's just light-hearted chat. However, there are obvious examples where full identity is needed, such as for security reasons on financial websites. Also, for children's safety against paedophiles, etc, children should always know excatly who they are talking to on a socially interactive site and should ask for the person's full identity before talking to them.
I can understand the appealing factor of being 'yourself' on the internet and that there are hardly any boundaries in self-expression. People can re-invent themselves in a sense and portray themselves however they wish as the other people in the chat room or forum have no idea who they are in the 'real' world. There are websites for every sort of topic that people can relate to and express their views on, and this is a very liberating experience for some people who have never been able to voice their ideas on a certain topic before. Also, the fact that the user knows that the other people on the website have the same type of opinion as them reinforces the sense of freedom of speech and being open to express themselves with other like-minded people.
I think there are a few risks with online identity, as people may not be who they say they are and this could lead to mis-trust. The persona a person puts on to you online may be totally different to the person they are in real life. You have no face-to-face interaction with that person so just have to trust them on what they tell you via emails and messages. This could again pose as a dangerous situation for younger people who may be naive and therefore put trust into people they meet online when they shouldn't.
I can understand why some people change their online persona subtly when on different chat rooms, etc. It may not involve them lying about themselves or deceiving the other users on there, it may just be that in certain chat rooms with specific topics of conversation you have to maybe agree with what the majority of people are saying so to be involved in the online social interaction. Do you agree with that?
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3 comments:
Lauren,
Do remember when you're typing to use capital 'I'. I think this post raises many useful and interesting points about identity and relationships on-line, currently though it does seem to be based largely on your opinion, and it would be beneficial if you could have drawn upon secondary reading to support the points you make.
All the best
Emma
i think giving your real name is different to creating a whole different online persona.
But with regards to Emma's comment about using capital 'I's, from what the other lecturers have led us to believe, I wasn't aware that grammar and spelling was an issue and therefore haven't been writing in a formal style. Have I taken the message from other lecturers completely wrong or was anyone else under this impression?
im in sue's group....and we have been told to write informally, so thats what i've been doing and dave has also said the same thing in the lectures. The blog is meant to be an online seminar so we are meant to be writing informally as we speak in a seminar. The spelling and grammer is not an issue as far as im aware.
That's what we've been told from both Dave and Sue.
Happy blooging!
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