Writer's Block: Divided Self
Mar. 19th, 2009 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Yes and no.
Online is an interesting sort of thing, because you have so much anonymity so it's easy to be something you're not. When I was younger, when we first got the internet, I was in middle school - we got our first computer when I was in like 5th grade, and then I was in middle school when we got the internet - I used to pretend to be someone else, someone older.
Slowly I grew out of the need to pretend to be someone I'm not online.
I found diaryland, it was the first online journal sort of place I'd ever found and I was able to be myself, to write about things that actually happened in my every day life. And then I found livejournal, even more anonymous than diaryland since none of my friends used it - and I could be even more open about myself.
These days, the person I present here in my livejournal, is very much me - I don't lie about my age, or the things I do - I'd probably be a whole lot more interesting if I did, but I'm not quite the person I am in real life either. With all the anonymity that being online provides, I'm able to be more open about myself, the things I want, and the things I do than I would be in my real life - I don't worry about what people think, because everyone who reads my journal lives on the internet, it's very unlikely that I'll meet most of the people I talk with through livejournal in real life, with a few exceptions of course.
So I don't have to worry about what any of you might think of me, for the things I think and feel and do and am, the way I do with the people in my real life.
It's a nice feeling not to have to worry about people telling you you'll go to hell, not to have to worry about people threatening to kick you out of the house, or telling you how wrong you are the way I would if I were as open in my real life as I am here.
So my answer is yes and no.
Yes and no.
Online is an interesting sort of thing, because you have so much anonymity so it's easy to be something you're not. When I was younger, when we first got the internet, I was in middle school - we got our first computer when I was in like 5th grade, and then I was in middle school when we got the internet - I used to pretend to be someone else, someone older.
Slowly I grew out of the need to pretend to be someone I'm not online.
I found diaryland, it was the first online journal sort of place I'd ever found and I was able to be myself, to write about things that actually happened in my every day life. And then I found livejournal, even more anonymous than diaryland since none of my friends used it - and I could be even more open about myself.
These days, the person I present here in my livejournal, is very much me - I don't lie about my age, or the things I do - I'd probably be a whole lot more interesting if I did, but I'm not quite the person I am in real life either. With all the anonymity that being online provides, I'm able to be more open about myself, the things I want, and the things I do than I would be in my real life - I don't worry about what people think, because everyone who reads my journal lives on the internet, it's very unlikely that I'll meet most of the people I talk with through livejournal in real life, with a few exceptions of course.
So I don't have to worry about what any of you might think of me, for the things I think and feel and do and am, the way I do with the people in my real life.
It's a nice feeling not to have to worry about people telling you you'll go to hell, not to have to worry about people threatening to kick you out of the house, or telling you how wrong you are the way I would if I were as open in my real life as I am here.
So my answer is yes and no.