How strange that this True Life would be on today! I haven't gotten to watch the whole thing yet, but what I've seen so far is very interesting. It addresses how the online persona can contrast greatly from the offline persona as Suler discusses. In one scene Amy, a girl who spends a great deal of time on Second Life decides to perform in RL. She writes songs and plays guitar and regularly has concerts on Second life, but has thus far been unable to get on a real stage. When she finally gets on stage, she is easily distracted because people do not sit quietly as avatars do on SL. She even goes so far as to say that she'll probably never perform in RL again because you can not put people on mute. I found this curious because most performers feed off of the energy of the crowd, but she would prefer people to sit soundless and motionless while she sings. She finally decided to continue performing live and even enlisted the help of a SL performer who also performs live.
The concept of friends from RL and those from VL is also addressed here. Maleri is a girl who cannot find a boyfriend in RL because she's afraid to talk to guys, but she has online relationships with several guys. When one of her real life friends finds out that she exposes herself online, it causes Malori to rethink her behavior. In this case her offline friend helped her regulate her online behavior and gave a reality check. Amy's friend from SL also became a source of inspiration in RL, so their friendship was able to transcend the restrictions of SL.
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1586148&vid=236311
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2 comments:
Tami, interestingly enough each of the girls actually had at least one RL friend who stood by them. Judy had a friend who was encouraging her to do social things in RL. Maleri had friends whose insight she valued [as you mentioned]. And then Amy also had friends who encouraged her to perform live. So all of these girls who have a life online, do still infact have RL lives. I think this is important to note. The girls may be preoccupied with the internet, but they are not totally consumed by it. I think for the most part these girls are stuck on the integration of both of their 'lives.'
I finally watched the entire episode, so I have a better understanding of the three women profiled. Christina, I agree that they had people who cared for them in RL. Amy even had a boyfriend she lived with. I don't see her interactions in SL as that disturbing. She was able to live comfortably in RL, she was just afraid of performing in public. Lots of people have anxiety about getting on the stage in front of strangers and sharing their personal thoughts and feelings. Once she got over her stage fright she was fine.
I think the problem with Maleri and Judy is that their most significant social experiences, especially with the opposite sex were solely online. I think the isolation component is key. Maleri had several friends who cared about her, but they had no idea how obsessed she was with hiding behind the internet.
As for Judy, she had the one friend, but her social anxieties didn't allow her to interact with others in public. Her entire social life was on her adult website. Not to mention the fact that she was using her body to pay her rent. I'm not being judgmental, I just think that all kinds of identity problems can develop when people live in a fabricated world. Since neither Judy nor Maleri were comfortable with who they are in RL, they created identities to use solely on the net.
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