Am I the same person for real and in social media?

This was the main topic for today’s Wellbeing session. On the follow up of last week we kept analyzing the way we operate online, the image we convey and how it affects the links we establish with others.

As we post online we acknowledge that we are looking for two things: sharing with friends and family and public approval. If the former is absolutely legitimate (as we create personal links by sharing with others), the latter is a new phenomenon, result of the online society we live in and we use it project ourselves and gain a different level of recognition that we couldn’t imagine to have years ago.

This virtual world opens a different dimension to the perception we can have of others and the perception we create on others too. Likes, views and followers represent now this new dimension of who we are… or who we aim to be, or how we want to be perceived.

If in one hand we can cast a real image of ourselves in social media, most times we are unconsciously looking for a general acknowledgement of ourselves according to these virtual standards. This can be innocent and harmful at the same time.

 Parga and Aryan checking their privacy settings

As a result, and falling again on the conclusions of last week, it is very important to filter carefully who we connect with, how we interact and how does our online image damage who we really are. It is something personal, difficult to define and hard to shape.

Finally, we agreed that our group project will be to have an accurate check on our privacy settings and challenge ourselves to delete from our contacts, anyone we don’t really know, who we see as dubious or whose interactions are not positive. The goal is to ensure we are increasing our online safety… as we all agree that despite this, there is an extremely positive side to social media.