Illusions of the Online Persona

I have tried to understand a lot of things lately and one of them being the way some people exhibit behaviours different from their real lives on the internet most especially on social media. I read of a concept -Online Disinhibition Effect- which helped me in understanding that there is a  loosening or complete abandonment  of social restrictions that would have otherwise been present in normal face to face interaction during interaction with others on the internet. In other words, interaction over the internet has little or no restrictions hence why some internet users try out different positive and negative personalities.

We know how popular social media is and how it is taking over the world literally. I think it is a great invention, but then why will one choose to exhibit certain unacceptable behaviour over social media, same behaviour that will not be heard of from you in the real world?  Unacceptable behaviour I am referring to includes but is not limited to being unnecessarily rude, seeking needless attention, being strongly anti-social, giving in to peer pressure in order to be tagged ‘cool’ amongst others. Worse still, some who have low self esteem engage in this unacceptable behaviour in order to seek validation from other internet users- doing all of that somewhat elevates them most especially when there is audience.

On the other hand there are those who tend to exaggerate their lives on social media, they are quite calculative and flaunt material possessions on display for the world to see because they strive to attain that fabulous lifestyle title from their followers but their real lives are detached from what they project on social media, talk about momentarily happiness. This behaviour is detrimental to any right thinking individual, it further diminishes one’s self esteem but sadly there are hundreds if not thousands of such followers who eventually follow suit.

Unfortunately, these trends are getting popular by the day. I have said and will continue to reiterate that a lot of the young generation who feel the need to engage in these behaviours will most often miss out on some of the best things that could have ever happened to them. There is absolutely nothing wrong in being your real self on the internet.