Do what you want to do, go where you want to go.

The internet is a hub of connections, connections galore. But are we really interacting with the people who we think we are interacting with? Could someone possibly be someone who they just aren’t? or could someone be portraying a side of themself that is not who they are if you would have interacted with them face to face?

In Turkle’s “Identity Crisis” in Life on the Screen, Turkle talks about this: the internet being a “…chance for all of us who aren’t actors to play [with] masks. And think about the masks we wear everyday” (256).

People are able to show what they want and keep hidden what they want. And they can do this to an even greater degree that in everyday life because they are protected by the screen. “…it is a world where anything goes that can be negotiated…” (257). The internet is a place where people can explore their self and negotiate, on one level or another, who they are with themselves and other people.

Turkle also talks about how people explore different “parts” of themselves or their personalities. She says “…different parts of the self are not full personalities. They are split-off, disconnected fragments” (261). In this sense, people’s personalities on the internet are like a sampling of who they truly are. A sampling of self occurs as people explore their various ways of being and acting.

One last thing that I found in Turkle’s piece and that I really liked: she says “Different people make the computer their own in their own ways” (267). This sentence really stood out to me. It is so true that you can be whoever you want, act like you want, and pursue whatever you want on the internet. You make it your own as you explore what your limits are and what the limits of your interaction with the network is.