Who are we Online?
Through the media used, practices and values promoted in the lived in cyber-culture, our values of things such as success, effectiveness, efficiency, and speed are seen higher in importance than truth, meaning, reflection, intimacy, and meaning. With the use of online resources to fabricate our communication to one another the truth behind our words, the meanings behind our relationships, and the intimacy rarely fall to say what we mean and mean what we say.
For the new cyberspace era, the internet has become a resource for people to find new ways of expression, explorations of new self-identities, and connections to people in their own interests. Schultze reminds us that cyberspace tends to degrade both the rational and individual self-reinforcement. Sites such as Facebook and Myspace, have expanded their once simple utilities of sharing information, to newer features such as interests groups, news feeds of who did what, detailed profile descriptions of the person, photo albums, and messaging boards
All in all in the back of our minds we know the way we use words in our profiles , the groups we join, and how we filter pictures displayed of us, develop forms of identities we want to be shown. We must greatly question how authentic we are when we delete that one photography that we don’t want people, the meaningful things stated in the facebook groups we join, and even what we write in our profiles. Truthfulness, obligates us to far more than simply creating versions of reality that are in tune with our own interests.
With the criticism of the current cyber-culture, it is important to start focusing on the return to an embodied, meaningful existence to each other. In the age of information technology, there can be long-term results if we continue in the pattern of how we transmit and communicate informationm about ourselves or others. We neglect to critically articulate how we communicate to each other. Life is a journey and the struggle to find who we are and where we fit in is something we struggle on a daily basis. College can only prepare you so far, it is the decisions we make on the way that guide us in the paths we want to go.
What do we value more, is something that is hard to put into perspective? On one side we want to present ourselves in a manner that shows our independence and success, but on the other side we also want to find intimate relationships and passion. At times, it can be felt we must put aside the later to achieve the first goal. We seek to know more intimately who we are and how we should live. We ask questions about life because our existing understanding is not adequate.
