Online Identity And Why It Matters

When it comes to online, it's limitless. And timeless. And endless.

Everything goes online. How we have to mess up with this and in the end we need to mess up with this in every single day is the main thing I want to break down here. So, what has happened actually?

It's about the shifting of people's mindset when they found themselves in a very broad open area called online world. How it promises them so much things, more than they ever could expect. And how, most importantly, it fills up the hollowness of their real world they cannot fulfill. 

Online identity is an image construction of oneself. Anything posted by someone on their social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc) and forums that users want to depict their image as they want. Internet users come up with identities that are same to their real world ones, though many of them may come with different version of them online. 

Some users are just fine to use their real identity in online forums or communities, some are considering "alternative person" or wearing "masks". People are fine using their real identity maybe because socially they are neutral or acceptable. Sorry to say but, for those looking freak and weird and anti-social (frankly: hardly socially-acceptable appearances and personalities), the online world helps them much. As the place they can escape to (or hide from), as the (real) world they can make up, and for their existence, pride whatsoever that it can add them up to.

When a person is not (really) accepted by the people (society), they're gonna feel like they're less worthy, sometimes. The way society look down on them is something that they know they should not worry about but then it influences the others to do the same. And it's inevitably impacts the person, bad way. What should be done then? Some people just don't care of it. Others take it too personal. Either you care or not, as long as you keep silent, nothing's gonna change. 

So do you need to speak up? Yes.

Directly? In-person? Not necessarily.

In a society that's pretty conservative, it's uneasy sometimes to speak about ideas and perspectives. When it's simply contradictive to them, or (perceived as) radical, they'll simply say no and reject, and provide no space for arguments. So thank to today's technology where someone can use masking identity. A no-real name, character, or personality that someone can be totally in. In social media such as Facebook and Twitter we can find many alter accounts.

What "social"? Which "society" is it then?

Because people will always talk. No matter what medium is. So basically, the online constructed society is just the same as in the real world. People see, comment, and give their judgements on things, like it or not. 

If it's the same thing then why masking identity is there?

Because it doesn't reveal someone's real identity. And that's important.  They need not worry about what people say yet they can speak up and express themselves in ways they want. The online world provides spaces for sharing ideas and arguments. If people don't like it, they just can skip, but if they're open to talk then the conversation can be held without fear and worrying about social consequences. Then the exchange happens, with hope for better understanding. And it can hardly found in real world. It's like a safety net.

But, does it seem like they have lack of self-esteem by doing so? The answer is when can the society be conducive to an interaction with confidence between people and no fear for social judgements? 

I believe online identity is a big deal. The internet is the only place where someone can be whatever they want to be. Moreover, it offers them to be any alternative personality that later lead to other perspectives of how people see things in life.