Response to, "Identity Management in Cyberspace"

This article made me think about my recent experience for this class using the site Second Life. Even the first sentence of the article, "Who are you in cyberspace?" made me stop reading and consider just that. With Second Life you are started with a generic avatar, you can choose from a few options, but they are all pretty basic. I chose one that I though looked most like myself. After entering the game, I was able to chat with a girl in the space that gave me "freebie" clothing, body types, hair, and facial features. I ended up completely changing my avatar's appearance not even ten minutes into playing, which I see as a parallel to my offline personality, a relentless shopper. The article touched on how, "Some people even talk about how we can 'deconstruct' ourseves online," referring to the choice we have not to show all aspects of ourselves through our avatars. As a typical girl does, I have my insecurities, and it's no mistake that my avatar would most likely run circles around me at the gym if it magically sprung out of the computer. It seems to me that places like Second Life allow for anyone to be represented any way they want. I saw not a single person represent themself with an anti-social, lazy, unnatractive avatar while I tested out virtual reality. As said in the article, "People also strive to attain new, idealized ways of being." Though everyone I interacted with seemed to be exercising their socially deemed, "good qualities," online, I have no doubt that there are people out there who use cyberspace as an outlet for their darker characteristics, as mentioned in the article, and act out negatively towards other users. I did not use Second Life enough to establish a solid cyberspace identity that I can recognize, but it seemed as though everyone I came across was completely emersed in their character role. Without knowing who is behind the computer on their end, it is hard to know how true to their real identity they become in cyberspace. Interacting through a computer middle-man created an anonimity that I found comforting. I didn't have to feel exposed in any way, or obligated to interact with anyone I didn't want to. In real life, there are consequences for blowing people off or not acting within society's accepted boundaries, but cyberspace holds no one accountable.
A part of the article I found interesting was when it talked about the level of conscious awareness and control. It noted that our personalities in cyberspace aren't a complete conscious choice. I find it facinating that interacting in cyberspace, without normal societal pressures, without restrictions on who or what you can be, can tell you so much about your identity. It is incredible how cyberspace interaction can bring out facets of peoples' personalities that they may never have been able to explore under normal life conditions.After this article I really wish I could know more about how my personality manifests itself in cyberspace.