Internet and social media - Article Example

Social media and personal identity: Internet means much more than a source of information and exchange of emails to a lot of people in the contemporary age. In fact, some people feel more convenient to socialize with their friends and peers through social media than face to face. I know a friend of mine, since childhood who used to remain very quiet in the classroom until few years ago. His name is John. He used to speak very rarely, and did not participate in group discussions. He remained silent and kept observing others.

I seldom saw him speak in gatherings. I always found him more defensive than expressive in his speech. He could not bear someone contradicting his points of view or pass an indecent comment as friends normally do. This is perhaps the reason John did not participate in group discussions. But this John is completely different from the one I have in my friends list on facebook. John is too expressive in the virtual world. One day, I asked John the reason behind the disparity between his real world social interaction and that in the virtual world.

He told me that he felt more protected while interacting in the virtual world. One reason why he thinks so is that he does not have to come up with prompt answers to the nasty comments made by his friends. When someone sends him a message on facebook and criticizes him in anyway, he has more time to select the most rational answer from a variety of choices. I have personally noticed that his responses to others’ comments on facebook are much more objective, well synthesized and well reasoned than what he normally makes in the real world conversation.

In the childhood, I knew the real world John as a socially excluded dumb sort of guy unlike the one on facebook who is very dominating, influential, charismatic and smart. In fact, it makes a lot of difference for some people if the person they are interacting with can see or touch them or not. They may feel more relaxed psychologically when the conversation is synthesized entirely through mind and there is no effect of body language on it. In the case under consideration, John finds facebook a safe place to express his personal identity.

His social network has grown manifolds since he made his account in facebook. He shares his opinions with his friends, discusses important political and religious issues, and has his say in literally every matter. The positive outcome of this is that the social interaction on internet has started to integrate into his real life interaction with people. He has discovered his Personal Legend on facebook and wants to introduce it to people he knows in the real world as well. There has been a noticeable increase in his confidence recently.

He makes more public appearances and actively participates in any discussion like any normal boy his age would do. Social media works wonders for people like John who are too sensitive to maintain high self esteem in real life conversation!