I briefly watched this danish documentary on TV the other day, called "Modern addiction" - about two gamers who were addicted to the net. Lots of blah blah blah which I've heard or read several times before, so I was swapping back and forth a lot. One quote catched my interest though - there was this guy saying how he wasn't sure who or how the real "him" was - the persona that surfaced on the internet, or the real life persona. On the internet he was easygoing, upfront, chatty and bold. In the real life - well, he was and felt shy and preferred to stay home 24/7 so he could continue his social life on the net. He hated to be forced out to shop groceries, and wished he could just order food and get it delivered at his door all the time. So, which side showed the real him? The shy one? The social one? He looked kinda sad when he asked about that I think..
Now that's an interesting issue, in which Sherry Turkle, a professor (I think, she must be that by now at least :p) who's been into people and computergames also have touched several times in her researchs throughout the years (ever since the late seventies!). In her book, "Life on the Screen - Identity in the Age of the Internet", she tells about several people with similar experiences - they're a completely another person on the net - some claims that this net-personae is their real self, others aren't sure and struggles with the same doubts and identity-crisis as this guy. Others again claims that the net-personae is just a (staged) play, they're pretending they are someone else just for fun, but know very well who they really are themselves. There was this girl who was shy in the real life, but when she was on IRC she was bold, outgoing, she said things she would never have dared to say in the real life, etc etc etc... she said that she hoped that the real her was the one she was on the net, but she didn't really think so - the real her was the personae she was in real life.
I've also written a paper on a similar issue myself, where I was looking at some EverQuest players and how they chose to pick their own personalities ingame, and well, although I limited myself to the game and their game-character, you can draw similar lines into any other activity that's done on the net where you meet other people - boards, chatting stuff like IRC or MSN and well, stuff..
What I think about all this? Well, I guess this is a well known cliché - we all carry situational masks - the person we are at home with our parents usually differ from the person we are at work, at school, with friends... how can you say that the person you are when you're with your mom is the same as the person you are when you're with your best friend, or the person you are when you're with several friends? We usually adapt without thinking, and I believe that the person that's you on the net also is a part of the real you - or maybe more correct - just another part of you. Hm. Which makes me think of that Nicky Yee dude and his facets. Anyways. A very interesting issue methinks :)
Sleepytime now :)
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"But the bad news," he said "Girl you're a dandelion."
Dandelion. Hey I need to think about that.
-Tori Amos