Online / Offline Personas

black_mamba

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #1

Hey everyone,

Does your online personality differ from your offline one? A resounding yes methinks. In which case, how do they differ and why?

I think its fascinating how the internet can bring out the best and worst in people. It can provide that much needed anonymity to help shy people speak their mind, yet that same anonymity can make it easier for us to be harsher with our words, or take everything to an extreme.

 

redlady

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #2

Hi black_mamba - I am definately part of that resounding yes. I am much more open here than i am in real life. I have divulged things here that i never would to anyone personally - and i am quite uninhibited about it. Well as uninhibited as you can be as an anonymous faceless bunch of words over the net. Although i'm not that extreme - i don't think - with what i write and respond with - i still try to be sensitive to the fact that i am writing to a real person with feelings.

 

blubs

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #3

no
I wish it did
I wish I had the imagination to have a persona :?
The only difference online is that I have the emoticons....

they've become like little pets 8O

especially this little fella 8O
:roll: and this ones quite cute

 

redlady

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #4

thoughtless wrote:

I can be myself online. I can be the person I only wish I was when I'm facing my friends or simply people I know.

At least I can be myself for once and show people the real me.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's what i meant to say.

 

black_mamba

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #5

Same here, and I sound a lot more coherent in writing than I do in person. Also, being online allows me to enter debates more easily. In real life I avoid debates, arguments, confrontations in general because when I enter them I get nervous, and then I loose track of my ideas. I just seem more 'together' online when the reality is so different. :?

 

Sue

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #6

i guess its the fact that you have time to think about what you want to say instead of having to be infront of people and try and get an answer in quick, which makes me nervous sometimes and i end up saying stupid things.

then there is the fact that you dont have eye contact to worry about. i dont really have a problem with it but im no expert i can tell you. some people dont like looking people in the eye because it gives them away sometimes.

i feel relaxed here because i can take my time typing what is on my mind in my own time and no one is watching me. just feel watched over which is much nicer

 

black_mamba

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #7

If only life had an undo, delete and edit function I'd be eternally happy. :wink:

 

Chilling__Echo

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #8

hey worry, i just can't see you blushing and being awkward - with you, i've always seen you so confident and sure of who you are. like, "dammit, this is me" this is a compliment by the way, i don't mean it in an offensive way

but i'm sure that's not always the case, b/c i'm different in person i guess. people tell me that i seem confident online and it's only been recently that i FEEL confident offline that's just come with new developements in my life. but when i like to think that i'm no different online than the first day i came on here and was struggling really bad with SA. but all in all like some have said, i feel more myself b/c it doesn't matter on the internet. i'm much more open.

 

Bexi

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #9

oh blubs, i love 8O , its adorable! Somtimes when u type online, ppl came interpret it the wrong way, which can be a problem! Somtimes i wonder what it'd be like if we all were in the same room together! [/quote]

 

LittleMissScareAll

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #10

I can speak my mind ALOT more online...if somebody says something rude to me online, I say something rude back...in person I do occasionally...it depends on the situation... but it's basically always pretty easy for me to say things online and always alot harder to say what I want, in person. and same for if I want to talk to someone online--it's alot easier for me to send somebody an online message...I absolutely can't go up to a stranger and just talk to them. I can't even really LOOK at them. 8O

 

Danfalc

Banned

• Aug 20, 2005

• #11

Im worse online

Im actualy more anxious/nervous/paranoid online than i am offline.Im far from confident offline,but i dunno... i think maybe not being able to see people's facial expressions and body language lets my brain form its own negative conclusions. :?

 

Chilling__Echo

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #12

that's interesting... sometimes i don't even want to risk what they might signal at me lol

 

racheH

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #13

I laugh more frequently online for some reason. Normally I chukle to myself rather than really laugh. However, offline when I do laugh it can seem to go on forever. Sometimes I think onlookers must think me retarded because where most can't even see the joke I'll be cackling away until I can't remember it myself. :roll:

I don't deliberately change my persona though.

 

Toad

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #14

I've been told my online persona is completely different than my offline one. I think that's just because when I'm online I can speak my mind...offline I just keep what I'm going to say to myself. I seem to have a sharper tounge online...although what i say more often makes sense since i have time to think it out.

 

black_mamba

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #15

McShy said:

The best thing about being online is that most of the regulars here seem like people you'd really like to meet, as opposed to the 'real' people I have to deal with every day. I feel like I'm at some big party where everyone I talk to is someone I WANT to talk to!

Click to expand...

When I'm at work surrounded by people I find difficult to get along with, that same thought enters my mind. How come I can't speak to these people at length or pretend to be interested in their shallow mememe conversations. But when online, in that weird forum, I feel so much more happy in being social? Is it because we have SP, or because its online, or because I don't put in the effort in real life? Probably a mixture of all those reasons.

Danfalc said:

Im actualy more anxious/nervous/paranoid online than i am offline.Im far from confident offline,but i dunno... i think maybe not being able to see people's facial expressions and body language lets my brain form its own negative conclusions.

Click to expand...

Wow I never saw it from that point of view. You seemed relaxed online anyway judging by your posts.

 

Boundless

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #16

I can say things here i wouldnt say in the real world,and i feel more at home here than ta my home lol,so many understanding people helps when people can understand ^^

 

ColdFury

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #17

I don't have an offline persona.

 

nerdgirl178

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #18

I am more myself online, I think, especially one to one conversations.

 

lonesomeboy

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2005

• #19

of course on the net its easier. u dont have to be face to face with someone.

 

Moonie

Well-known member

• Aug 21, 2005

• #20

My personas definitely differ. I met my BF online and he was very suprised about the contrast. He once said that my online self is a lot like my drunken self and that my online/real self are nothing alike. It's so funny how things just pop up so easily when chatting online- YET nothing witty comes easily to me in real life.. and if it does, it comes out all jumbled and wrong..