Response to The Decline and Fall of the Private Self

I found Flora’s article to be closely connected with Gergen’s idea of the multiphrenia – people portray themselves in different forms through the means of blogging. Flora writes that “Whether he [the blogger] realizes it or not, the online scribe cultivates an identity that anticipates and responds to its audience.” I take this to mean that a person cultivates a persona that he or she portrays online. This persona may be different from how one presents oneself in face-to-face situations. “You become a character [online], a speaking part, in the larger theater of society.” By playing a character, the person would seem to not be being himself and would not be connected to reality, which is not like a movie. There are a lot of instances where people make up completely fake persona’s, like lonelygirl15, and blog or present themselves online. When people find out that this is not their true selves, they become upset. It is surprising to me that anyone can think that what a person chooses to tell about himself online is absolutely true. It seems like this is another instance of not being connected to reality.

On a completely separate note, I found that this article put into words why I find blogging so uncomfortable and somewhat “creepy.” The people in the article talk about themselves as being characters in a movie. It seems as if they crave being a celebrity and will put all privacy aside in an attempt to be famous. I do not want to be a celebrity. I value my privacy and feel uncomfortable sharing personal information about myself with strangers. Even homework (such as this blog) feels to me as if I am allowing people to read my personal work. I feel obligated to put on the perfect persona of being an intelligent, articulate student. When I blog, I feel like I am being watched and judged by others. I think that people who blog regularly feel like they also are being watched and judged but that they just enjoy that kind of attention.