SOCIAL SELF - The Socio-Digital Self
To make this part simple, the socio-digital self is the life a person has within the internet. Before having GED101, I used to think that the physical life explains everything within a persons internet life. I found out I was wrong. In the internet, social media is something that us humans use to interact with one another digitally. Through social media, people interact with one another but it is not happening face-to-face so you don't have to actually be there to be there. Hope that makes sense. I learned that there is actually a term that defines that. It is called the "Online Disembodiment." So usually, in social media, people don't really have to show who they actually are, so they could argue all they want which is something that I will talk about later.
So the digital identity is the identity the person has in the internet. I thought that this was something only applicable in social media, turns out it is applicable for all your indentity in the internet. A good example is in games. In my games, I am identified as Cookie, and no one really knows my actual identity.
Then we go to the Online Disinhibition Effect. There are two: Benign disinhibition and Toxic disinhibition. Benign dishibition from my understanding is when a person is more open and more comfortable in the internet. These are the people who would be more interactive in the internet and just feels way better whenever they get interact with others from the internet, without necessarily knowing the actual identity of other people. These are the kind people in the internet. From how I see it, I think I am one of those hehe. Then there is Toxic disinhibition which is toxic.There are many of these and the best example really are trolls in the internet. They do not reveal their identity and all they really want to do is piss people off and trigger someone as much as possible. They find pleaseure and this and it's cringe.
All this are new knowledge to me. All I knew was the internet, and never really knew the terms that are used for different people like this. After this, although I don't think I'm toxic in the internet because I barely post anything, I've became more aware of the things I read, post, and share. I think we all have the responsibility to keep the internet as nice as possible. Although it seems impossible, seeing that there is an endless increase of trolls recently, I think if we start with ourselves, eventually the internet might be a friendly place.
