How does the online world bleed into real life?

[sserafim]

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[winamp]

this is an interesting question it really makes me think

I feel as though the online world can only bleed into real life if someone is struggling with identity issues and knowing ones self which could be enhanced by having just one internet persona or multiple internet personas

especially if said person is liked more for their internet persona rather than how they are (at least to others or just themselves) in real life

so I think eventually they will turn into their Internet person or share similar traits with it in real life while others who observe or know them or know of them will call them out or see how they portray themselves as strange behavior due to not being the same as their curate audience online who only knows them as how they act online

I don't know how to explain it but I like how this is talked about in fiction or retold as stories in old internet spaces

someone telling absurd stories or pretending to be a psychopath

someone making multiple accounts to talk to themselves and others and to argue with people etc.

so many layers and so confusing and hard to explain

sorry for a wall of text

 

[vak]

This might be an extremely unpopular opinion, but I believe these two should not be separated. By distinguishing between them, we made internet into a very hostile and unsafe place. Remember the human, as they say - some people forget that we are all very real humans with emotions interacting over the web.

I recall the early internet, which seemed like a smaller and more intimate place. There's a point to be made that you should be careful about what you reveal about yourself, as there will always be bad actors, but this is true for real life as well.

I don't live a double life, having one true identity seems like enough work already.

 

[dogbreath]

I am chronically online. When I was forced into a mental hospital, literally none of the stuff online mattered. Place was hell but it was also a relief, relieving to see that in real life the online world does not really matter,,,then again, it was a mental hospital so,,

 

[reclaimedbynature]

I think people take things way too seriously when it comes to this topic. People are multi-facet, and there's a time and a place for everything when it comes to expressing ourselves (this same logic applies both online and irl). I don't think it's fair for me to assume that the way people act online is how they act irl 24/7 - even here people seem to act a certain way in line with this site, but I don't think that's how they're like that all the time itl - it's just that this platform allows them to express a side of themselves that they normally can't anywhere else. That doesn't necessarily mean they're only one way - that's just how you've come to know or perceive them.

I think people who have trouble navigating the internet (as it is today) make it out to be worse than it really is - as they only view or experience it on a surface level. If you know where to look - you you can still find very small, nice and niche communities even on large mainstream platform - especially when it comes to art, hobbies, fandoms, entertainment, etc. It doesn't have to be all just doom and gloom, I think it's healthy to have an outlet for both the good, the bad and the ugly. It's much better than just bottling it up all the time imo.