Who Am I?

Personally, I do talk more about myself here than to those people I meet offline. And yes, the only reason I'm comfortable doing that is because I do not any one here in person. So it is safe to say that I am actually a very reserved person...

I am on so many social network sites and honestly ... I am an open book.

I am sure that we do sometimes. Perhaps it is a matter of comfort. Knowing that you are unlikely to meet someone in the flesh, or knowing that you can easily break contact makes us feel more comfortable about sharing our secrets. I expect that there are people who would be embarrassed to tell a real-life friend certain things because then they would have to see them regularly. Whereas, talking online means that we don't have to come face to face. Personally, I have one real life friend with whom I can talk about anything. She is quite used to each of my personalities! I don't know many other friends with whom I would be so comfortable - online or otherwise. I do think that this is one of the things about online. You can show different personalities and, usually, the interaction is more personal that with a group of real life friends. You can change/show the bits you want to show with online people but sometimes maybe feel that you have to be a certain way with real life people. I think I may have waffled on a bit there but I'm sure you'll know what I mean.

We do have a tendency to reveal something more about ourselves the longer we're active at a social network site. It's probably because we're getting comfortable to our virtual friends sometimes to the point that we've really put our trust in them. I too had found myself saying some personal things about me on a couple of occasions, but I try to avoid doing this as much as possible. I think we cannot really know an online friend until we've gotten to know him or her in person.

I think that we do. Just like here in Mylot, we don't necessarily tell what our names are and other personal stuff, but our personality shows by the way we respond to posts or comments. So, it is somewhat revealing yourself in an "invisible" way.

People here know much more about me than people who I meet a couple times, yeah. For me, its that I am shy in person because I am worried all the time about what others will think or say about me... Plus, I don't have good teeth which makes me not talk a lot in person since they bother me so much. I don't talk and let people see my teeth until I know them better and know they won't judge me on my teeth. So it is easier for me to talk here...

I do speak about things online that I wouldn't say to others offline it is easier to take a opinion from someone online then to someone you know. Or so in my opinion. I do hide behind avatars on some sites because sometimes people can be cruel in their opinions of peoples looks or nationality so yeah it is best to hide when that happens. But on one site I am basically me..I do tone down my attitude and personality so I am more readily accepted it's me..but not the whole me. I feel that people can't handle the whole me.lol.

This is an interesting thought and discussion. Because how many times are there things we will share in here about ourselves that we never tell anyone else? Or would we tell someone if they have not heard about it here? Personally I think the reason we share and talk about more things here than we share with others in person is for FEAR of REJECTION. Or what will they say and think about us then? Online we feel safe and half of the time know that we can be sounding blocks and not be bothered if people do not want to care.

Yes, the anonymity of online participation allows us to feel more secure. Nevertheless, as you rightly suggest that sense of security tends to allow us to speak more openly than we may do to someone face to face, thus providing a pretty good insight to ourselves over time. {f course this also provides the opportunity to create a totally false persona, but I suspect that as a rule we would tend to be more honest about our feelings.

I think I've revealed more of myself here than anywhere else. I only have two myLot friends as Facebook friends, one of which doesn't even go on Facebook much. I've been backing away from Facebook, except to play some games, and not much else. I also recently tightened up my privacy settings there; a man that I've known since I was five years old has had some issues between himself and his wife and somehow, because I "liked" some of his comments, I've gotten myself blocked from being his friend. I don't know what exactly went on there, nor do I feel that she had any right to block me from being his friend. I spoke to him on the phone the other night, and he was so apologetic-I said that was fine, but that he really needs to make a decision regarding his marriage. She's under the impression that he's the father of another woman's child (he isn't) and that's how everything started blowing up. I hate drama, especially when I get dragged into someone else's crap!

In reality, I'm an open and friendly person who can end up telling a total stranger personal details of my life. For some reason I hesitate to do that online. I find it necessary somehow to hide behind the avatar and funny name. It amazes me that people spill their guts here on a day to day basis. For some it seems like their discussions are personal diary entries of their day to day experiences.

Despite realising that it's unlikely anyone here knows who I 'really' am, I'm still fairly reticent here. Those who have been interacting with me for a while have probably picked up enough clues over time to put together a pretty comprehensive picture though.

hi dear P1ke, I dont think I reveal so much more about myself online as I do when I get to know people off line. Most of the things I share here online are issues people off line know about me as well and there are no family members of mine here in mylot land so nothing could ever leak out to them. And even if it did I would not bother with it. Got to be a little more careful about posts in FB as one of my cousins is in FB and things could leak there but its unlikely as he is seldom seen on FB.