I chose to answer Option #1: I entered a psychological space on the Internet and identity switched (older/younger, male/female), described how I managed my impressions and examined how the space may have affected my presentation of a “self”. I considered the "self-presentational tactics".
I entered the same chat room online that I used for assignment number two, called “Parachat”, and entered the general chat room again. I switched my identity from female, age 19, to male, age 17. At first, I didn’t really know what to do or say since I’m not really male, but eventually I started paying attention to only females, disregarding the males who were also present. I soon found myself talking with a younger girl who her name was Stephanie and that she was 16 from Florida. I nonchalantly explained to her that I was a pretty good football player and that I was captain of my high school team. Using this self-description (I also jokingly said I was ‘tall, dark and handsome’ when she asked what I looked like), I hoped that I would come off as appealing. Now, if I were in her shoes, I would completely ignore this character I created because I would find him obnoxiously over-confident.
I associated myself with Stephanie (and vice versa) because she told me she was a cheerleader at her high school, and that she was friends with the football players at her school. I left my font normal, even though Stephanie changed her color to pink, because I intended for my character, Stephen, to come off as masculine.
Since I never go into chat rooms, it was interesting to go in as a completely different person and try to see how I could impress someone else. Chat rooms present the chance for people’s ‘ideal’ and ‘ought’ self to shine through because of the lack of cues.
1 comment:
Hi Brittanie,
It sounds like it wasn't a problem to convince a girl you were a 17 year old male even though you were unsure at first. Using the descriptions you made of yourself as "tall, dark, and handsome" I feel as if guys in chat rooms would truly say that since it might sound oddly self-conscious if a guy told a girl he had "honey brown hair" and weighed a specific weight. You may have found the character you created as overly obnoxious, but at Stephanie's young age, you or I might have viewed the over-confidence in a much better light.
While I agree that in chat rooms people show their ideal and ought selves more, I don't think lack of cues is the only explanation for this. I think the vast number of users in rooms is also a factor, and it gives the user a larger audience to showcase the better person they strive to be than if the user was talking one-on-one. I also think that the fact that chatrooms don't record conversations is also a factor into why people show their ideal rather than their actual self.
Post a Comment