For the majority of my life, I have had an online presence of some sort. I think I first got started around 2000, using message boards to share essential shortcuts for Mario Kart with the rest of the world.
Then in 2005, things got really serious. I got my first myspace page, which was pretty exciting.
Things continue to progress, and these days I can't imagine what I would do without my facebook page, which aids my social life in numerous ways (from being a simple communication tool to remembering my friends birthdays for me).
As peoples lives are continually becoming more and more intertwined with their online-presence we have to wonder though; are they really accurately representing themselves?
When people have such a great level of control over the information people can and can't see on their personal profiles, the chance for misleading information to surface increases exponentially (Hamelink 2006). But, is this such a big issue?
It is important to realise that being completely open with your personal information online is also probably not preferable.
Realistically, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle... As long as we treat information gleaned from the Internet with a bit of caution, things will probably be alright.
References:
Hamelink, C. J. 2006. The Ethics of the Internet : Can We Cope With Lies and Deceit on The
Net? In: Ideologies of the Internet. New Jersey: Hampton Press Inc.
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