Jeffrey Blog 3

In today’s society, having some form of online social presence is considered a norm. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites, most of us can be found online. Some people use these networks as a way to date through the Internet. Others use social media as a means of communication with distant friends or family members more effectively. Not everyone presents his or her life exactly as it is. For example if I got a bad grade, there would be no reason for me to post that on social media, letting everyone know how poorly I did in my class. Also, if I were cut from a sports team, I would not want others to be informed. This is where online self-presentation comes to play, which is when people may choose how to present themselves to others and decide what to disclose about themselves. When something exciting or important happens to me, I do not mind telling my friends and family on this social websites about it. However, if something negative occurs I prefer to keep that to myself or only disclose this information to really close friends. Therefore I would not post it on social media for everyone to see and know about bad grades or how I got cut from a sports team. Same way as people that are ashamed of their height, weight, age, etc. prefer not to post the truth about them in dating profiles.

            A problem that people need to be aware of when going on online dating sites is the idea is Identity play. Identity play, the notion that anonymity of computer mediated communication frees people to experiment with different aspects of their identities and to pretend to be different from whom they are offline, allow a user to lie about who he or she is. For example, a friend of mine, who is gay, went online and pretended to be a girl on Facebook to talk and flirt with friends he thought were attractive. He talks to one person in particular for months pretending to be a girl; he then planned a meeting with the guy, while still pretending to be the girl. When he got there to the meeting place, the other guy was so furious, he stabbed my friend to death. On social sites we have to be careful, it is easy to pretend to be someone else, and people tend to lie to get others to like them. When anonymity comes to play it makes it even easier. When it comes to meeting strangers online, people should be very cautious about whom they are talking to or meeting, to protect ourselves from getting hurt, since not everyone tends to tell the truth.

            Online interaction makes so that everyone is connected, it has many advantages, like connecting old friends or family members, but at the same time it does has many disadvantages. Some people prefer to lie and trick other for their personal amusement, or for their own benefit, that is why we should always be aware and very careful about what we post and who we talk to online.