Our Second Selves



I have a question for you: "Who are you online"?

Now you may want to immediately respond, well, I'm me or [insert name]. You may even take a pause to think about the question and wonder, 'Is this a trick question?' This isn't a trick question; it's just to gauge whether you are as authentically yourself online as you are in person. Do you invite more or fewer conversations online than you do in person? Do you spend copious amounts of time deciding which picture is the most flattering and most likable? Do you carefully curate which parts of yourself others get to see? 

Now that you have had time to think about these questions, let's talk more about them. 

Reading Chapter 5, Networked Relationships, from Networked: The New Social Operating System by Rainie, L. & Wellman, B. (2013) was insightful, to say the least. Thinking about my own online identity, it is definitely the polished version of myself. One where I pick and choose who I socialize with, how I engage with them, and even when I choose to engage with them. Also in Chapter 5, the concept of “second selves” is introduced through Sherry Turkle’s argument that our online selves can differ from our offline selves (Rainie & Wellman, 2013). Rainie and Wellman argue that the two are more integrated. 

I started us off with questions about online identity and being online, but this chapter goes beyond that. 

This chapter also evaluates how technology has transformed the ways we communicate with each other. Through email, phone calls, text messages, video calls, and social media, we have even more control over how we curate the person we choose to present in the moment. In-person interactions are immediate, meaning there is no manipulation of who we are. Whereas online or virtual communities give us time to edit, filter, and shape our responses before we publish them to the web.

More importantly, this chapter explores how relationships have transformed and expanded the bounds of traditional friendships. Friendships are no longer bound by city limits or by in-person experiences. A network can consist of hundreds, or even thousands, of friends or "connections" online. These relationships can include individuals you've never even met before. Does this lesson the value of these relationships or decrease the value of one's personal community? 

There is an old saying: "Your network is your net worth." If that's true, does someone need personal ties for those relationships to hold value within the network they have built virtually? Especially considering that these relationships have the capability to expand beyond online and create real opportunities/ 

In closing, I leave you with one final question:  If you are portraying your "best self" online, does your network truly know you?  

These are just some of my thoughts and questions that I will leave you with. 

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