Re-wrtie Blog 1: But seriously, who are you?

            In Sherry Turkle’s Life on the Screen: Aspects of the Self she often reinforces the idea throughout the reading of everyday Internet users having the ability to create multiple identities.  For the public, this freedom to make up a personality without having to face any consequences that may come up if they were to do this in real life is growing wildly popular.  As Turkle puts it, “The Internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life.  In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create” (180).  Examples of this particular action are echoed all over the Internet in things like Multi-User Dungeons, or otherwise known as Multi-User Domains (MUD’s).

            To test this with ourselves for the first-hand experience, Professor Bakioglu assigned us all with the task to create a fake AIM profile in which anything goes.  The assignment was made even more intriguing once she had us draw names of the fake identities of our fellow classmates without us knowing who they are in reality.  We had to stay in character and talk to each other for over a week.  My AIM chat buddy’s name was Dale Billy Bob Burris.  I was immediately able to tell that Dale took on the “hick” or “redneck” personality for this assignment.  Dale was born and raised in southern Mobile, Alabama.  He took over the car shop after his father died in 2006.  He loves Jesus and hates liberals.  Whoever this was, they did a good job of keeping character because after doing these chats for a while in which we both had to keep character, I started to actually feel like I was speaking with an authentic person named Dale Billy Bob Burris.

            This happens all the time on the Internet through video games, chat rooms, and social networking systems.  Some people have far better reasons than others for there are Internet frauds using the Internet for illegal activities such as seducing purposes, sometimes regardless of the person’s age.  On the other hand, law enforcement institutions also create false identities to catch these certain people in the act.  With that said, the majority of people create false personalities, because they are at the liberty to do so and they simply enjoy being someone they aren’t everyday.