Seven years ago I moved to New Jersey from Austin, Texas. I recall having thoughts about how I could change my entire image; the clothes I wore, the mannerisms I used, the way I spoke. All of it could change in the matter of a 3 hour flight. I could become a new, better, me. This recollection occurred in Goffman’s piece when he was talking about Preedy, who was actively engineering his perceived self to those around him on the beach (Goffman 4). The expression given off could be manipulated into whatever Preedy, and I, wanted that perception to be. In the short term, and in unfamiliar situations with people one has never met, it is easy to engineer the expression that is given off and ultimately manipulate the perceptions that those people have of you. In the long term, I can tell you that fundamentally I am still the same person I was when I was living in Austin. This is because engineering ones image is not an easy thing to do. It takes a heavy amount of forethought, and you cannot slip for a second, or the entire image you have worked so hard creating can come crashing down, much like the description of the teacher who acts tough on the first day (Goffman 12).
Engineering the Online self and manipulating the expression one’s avatar gives off is much easier. There are a lot less factors to account for. You don’t have to worry about your mannerisms, the way you speak, or being observed by the unobserved observer (Goffman 7). More obvious examples of missing social cues are the intonation behind an instant message received from another user, as well as the persons physical cues of interest or disinterest. These are just few examples of the many factors that are unavailable online, but always surrounding the offline self. This fundamentally changes the way we perceive each other in virtual contexts, because much of what is unambiguous in reality, is completely ambiguous in virtual reality.
Due to this lacking social atmosphere and hollow interactions, it not only is easy to manipulate the way your avatar looks, but change your behavior, and ultimately your Self. Yee and Bailenson offer insight into how because of these missing cues, our behavior changes by the way represent ourselves in virtual contexts. As I have stated previously, it was difficult for me to change my behavior when I moved here because you can’t change who you are on a 3 hour flight and by a wearing a new outfit. But as Yee and Bailenson’s study’s show, “our self-representations shape our behaviors in turn” online (Yee & Bailenson, 281). This is because of the missing components we use to generate a full self. Online we are just relying on the Avatar’s themselves, which in turn ultimately makes one be able to be seen and perceived online in ways that they will never be able to be perceived offline.
XOXO, Your Gay Bestfriend 