My Online and Offline Personalities
A couple of weeks ago, a Twitter friend of mine and writer for the Austin American-Statesman, Omar Gallaga, asked a question: “Do you behave differently online than you do offline?” I do not.
If you read Omar’s story and/or watch the video that accompanies it, you’ll see that some do handle themselves differently. Some have more confidence, some feel more freedom to debate and argue issues, some flirt more online than in person.
I have always tried to be as much me as possible both online and off. I interact with clients, friends, coworkers and family all regularly online, and I think someone in that group would quickly call me on it if I wasn’t being authentic.
I have though, since getting online for the first time back in the mid-late 1990s, always conducted myself using one filter: my mother. As I told Omar, whether online or offline: “As long as my mother wouldn’t mind, I’m going to do it.”
Do you behave differently online?
