Social Media, Identity, and Me

The other day in class, we discussed social media and identity.

Basically, we talked about things such as Facebook, or Half-Life 2, where people can create their own avatar, or repesentation of what they want to be perceived as over the internet.

I do know some people who choose not to have their own picture as their profile picture on Facebook.  Some people would rather be represented through something like their favorite car, their favorite author, a famous individual they look up to, etc. Many do this so that they are "protected" online from any "predators" or so that they don't receive any "unwanted attention."

Many other people do this though so they can be a different person. They are unhappy with their life and wish to be someone new. This is more commonly seen in things such as Second Life 2 or online games like World of Warcraft. People can become whatever they want, and they can do whatever they want. There are instances even of people sacrificing 15 hours out of their weeks just so they can escape into their alter ego.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I once played a lot of online games like these, and I too once lived a different life through an avatar. It was fun, it was definitely a great escape from the horrible reality of high school (ha!). However, there are people out there that become way too involved with these games that they become addicted and reliant upon them to provide escape.

The same goes to social media sites like Facebook. even though they aren't so much of a "game," you still maintain them like an avatar, and you can find yourself lost on Facebook for hours before you even realize it... I myself am very guilty of this!

I think social media and the idea of avatars are slowly making us not want to be ourselves, and rather pretend to be something different all day... because, when you can live in multiple different realities, why stick with boring old real life?