Avatar Anxiety
Description
Nicholas Carr:
"Your online self ... is entirely self-created, and because it determines your identity and social standing in an internet community, each decision you make about how you portray yourself - about which facts (or falsehoods) to reveal, which photos to upload, which people "to friend," which bands or movies or books to list as favorites, which words to put in a blog - is fraught, subtly or not, with a kind of existential danger. And you are entirely responsible for the consequences as you navigate that danger. You are, after all, your avatar's parents; there's no one else to blame. So leaving the real world to participate in an online community - or a virtual world like Second Life - doesn't relieve the anxiety of self-consciousness; it magnifies it. You become more, not less, exposed." (http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/05/the_love_song_o_1.php)
More Information
- Updated discussion at http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2009/01/sharing_is_cree.php