A time I vividly remember when my brother acted juristically differently online compared to face to face interaction was when he was trying out for a travel baseball team in my city. Over text he reached out to the head coach giving his references from previous teams and how he is a player and a person. He gave a sort of positive and hard-working attitude towards the coaching staff and really showed that he deserves that spot on the squad. From his grades to his accolades, he shared each and every detail to get the point across that he was the best selection for the team’s wellbeing.
When it came to the face-to-face aspect of meeting with the head coach and the coaching staff and actually trying out for the squad, he brought a whole new attitude to the table. Over the phone he showed his admirable personality and how he believes he should have a spot and be able to play. In person he brought this scrappy, gritty attitude to the table. Like he couldn’t be told what to do and how to play the game of baseball. He came in with a warrior mentality and believed no one was going to take his spot after all his hard work throughout his life.
Online Communication changes the way we interact today from the aspect of comfortability and invisibility. Online we feel more reluctant to speak our mind and feel less regretful of our opinion. Rather than face to face interactions where we would probably hold our tongue about more opinions, we have because of people’s judgement from non-verbal and verbal communication. Why do we behave this way? Why is it that we have more comfortability behind a screen rather than face to face interaction?
Why am I more reluctant to hurt people’s feelings face to face than online? Because invisibility. Invisibility provides us a wall where we cannot see others facial or vocal reactions, so we feel more comfortable not knowing what that person is knowing. Is social media designed to inspire these sorts of interactions? I believe so, because that sort of barrier where you can hide identity and feelings is so powerful. You can say something out of the blue and think you are insulting someone, but some on the internet view it completely different.
I have come up with some of my own guiding questions regarding this inquiry project. How is it that we are able to come up with community groups with different opinions which can lead to feuds online? How are we able to weaponize our ability to be anonymous online? and lastly, how are Facebook groups so powerful to override a group of others a lot smaller?
