Although I can see the opportunities for having such a strong identity online in some capacities, I tend to wonder if I really need such an identity. I have had my share of 'identities' online either through my aquarium forums, pet forums, and online role-playing. While none of them were too overly taken seriously, I almost loathe the idea that I can be judged by so many strangers all at once.
Job hunting was hard enough after I got my two BAs. I went nine months between school and work with over 300 resumes/applications being done. Almost every job that I heard back from after the interview said that I was in their top two or three candidates, but they always had someone better. Do I really need to go through the same thing online? Do I need people comparing and judging me while I sleep?
Also, there's so much pressure to be careful about what you put online. One wrong picture could spell disaster either from not getting a job to being fired from one. I'm not saying I want to post pictures of myself drunk all the time, but why does it reflect poorly when I do have a life away from that professional life? Poe used morphines and opiates while he was conducting his greatest works. I like to think I have better standards than that, but we still regard his work highly despite his personal downfalls. Roman Polanski has created some of the best films of all time, yet whenever he's given an award, we have to bring up that he raped a young girl. What is the difference between the two? One is regarded despite his downfalls and the other's follows him whenever his name is mentioned.
Are we just left to figure that judgment isn't fair and we can only do what we can to present ourselves as the angels we try to be? Or is there a way to accept that we're all human and we all have personal lives where we test out our theories and make poor judgments?
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ReplyDeleteI think the only true way you will ever tell is by trial and error. I would rather err on the side of putting too much online and possibly benefiting overall from the social media than to be so scared of sharing too much that I don't do anything or share any information.
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective, posting drunk pictures online has the potential to reflect on a company as much as on one's life outside work. This is why, at least in part, some organizations have been so quick to fire those unaware of this possibility. I try to be quite mindful of everything I put up online, that it doesn't potentially conflict with my identity as a professor nor with UM-Flint's mission. In a way, being open has its own limitations.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the plight of the common man, who, lacking outrageous talent (e.g., Michael Phelps) that essentially offsets indescretion, must exercise a stifling level of conservativism such that exhibitionistic cries for help in the form of posting "real" photos can never occur-- must always be the beginning of the end. Sigh. And what of malicious posts of photos and annecdotes, by those who would relish the destruction of success? A predatory trend accelerated by reality TV? This is all very complex. The assumption is that I can control all aspects of my digital identity. False precept? Now, in its infancy, my identity is as bland as I wish it to be, as I need it to be, but can it possibly remain so ten years from now? Twenty? With fixity and fluidity, as described by Nelson, Hull, and Roche-Smith, how can any of us enter into 2040 unscathed, by ourselves or by others?
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