Hi, my name is Colleen O’Shea and I’m a junior communications major from Westchester, NY.
You will have to excuse my awkward and short introduction. I am awful at the “about me” thing. I had a myspace for a brief period of time but only because I was signed up by a friend and my “about me” stayed blank until that same friend filled it in for me. My facebook is equally as pitiful, containing nothing but my birthday, gender, and email address. I have never understood the need to put a lot of information about myself out for some imaginary audience to read and learn more about me as if they would really care. If you know me then you know all of that information already, and if you don’t know me, you probably won’t get to know me over the internet because I find that creepy. Instead of going online and having “chatting” with peers on the computer I really would rather go and hang out in person. I feel like humor and sarcasm are so often lost through typing and so I have not talked to anyone on AIM in probably over a year. So now that I’m sure everyone is thinking “Wow, what a freak,” I’ll get into the phenomenon of meeting people online.
There are so many ways to “meet” people via the internet; whether it’s talking to a future classmate through facebook or the “Class Of” website before arriving at school, or talking to random people in chat rooms, or using an online dating website, or befriending strangers on myspace. I mean maybe I just listened to attentively when I was told that going to meet someone that you’ve “met” or talked to online was a sure fire way of getting yourself abducted by a psycho/pedophile. Maybe it really is more like Eurotrip where you end up finding the super hot foreign love of your life and I should be less skeptical. However, I don’t believe I will ever be swayed and become the next spokesperson for e-harmony. There are too many nuances of people’s personalities that don’t come through when talking online. It’s my opinion that you can’t “click” with someone online. Even if all of the information you are receiving is true and you are not talking to a 5’5” bald man who has described himself as having Fabio-esque qualities, is an “lol” really the same as laughing with someone in the flesh?
Meeting and possibly dating people online can take place in many different online spaces. You can chat with someone in real time in a synchronous environment through AIM or chat rooms while asynchronous discussions through myspace or facebook as well as electronic mail are probably an even more popular means of a first encounter (just not for me).
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2 comments:
Hello,
I do agree with what you are saying about meeting people online and the dangers that comes with it. I also agree that if someone who wish to know more about you should do so in person rather than going on a website to find out more information. I don't quite understand how people feel so comfortable in providing so much details about themselves online. I believe that when someone adds you as a "friend" online, they should already be your friend so there is that safety of talking to others on the Internet and not some random stranger. I believe that what you're saying about that bald man is exactly what we spoke in class; you can never be sure about who's on the other side of the internet posing as someone else or someone s/he wishes to be.
It's been great reading your blog!
I definately agree with you about the creepiness of putting out information online for randoms to see; I've just never quite understood why randoms need to know things like my favorite books, movies, etc. Moreover, The whole newsfeed + wall-to-wall phenomemon also really freaks my out, especially when people write personal things on each others' walls for everyone else to see. It's fascinating and strange to see how people build such strong relationships online without actually having met someone; as you said, what if the person turns out to be a psycho 85 year old pedophile?
While talking on AIM, MSN, etc does have drawbacks (one cant convey emotion at all, humor and sarcasm are mostly misunderstood if not completely missed), it has its strengths as well. AIM, MSN, and Facebook are excellent programs for the ability they provide to keep in touch with people from other countries and cities whom you DO know and want to remain in contact with. I'm from India, and MSN and facebook have really helped me keep in touch with friends while i'm away from home.
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