Cybersession and the Human Problem Online A
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plague with widespread grip, social media dictates
praise us or reward us online. Goffman’s claims were about
self-presentation, splitting us in two. We exist in two
face-to-face interaction. However, social media
dimensions. Within the parameters of performance,
fragments our performance. In real-life interactions, a
or our curated behaviors in real life and online, we make
facade must be upheld to create a false impression, but
up a ‘physical’ self and a ‘virtual’ self. Each of us diseased,
social networking is a whole different beast. Imagine writing
infatuated with the screen and chained to third-party
and directing a play, but only including a few scenes in the
affirmation. We have certain ideas of ourselves that we
performance. These are the scenes that flatter you.
want others to recognize and we try to force them upon our audience. Human behavior on social media exemplifies
Our performative behaviors, Goffman said, depend on
a combination of control, curation and cybersession,an
setting. Could he have possibly imagined a shared public
equation for dissociation, dishonesty and image problems.
space like the modern social network? Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat oscillate between physical and metaphysical worlds. We can change real-time impressions with truly
Online presentation: The virtual self “Other
people
have
always
represented
the
biggest
opportunities and the biggest threats to us,” said Samuel
‘captured’ images, moments we choose to share with the audience in mind.
Gosling, professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. “That’s why many people are very interested
This
in worrying about other people’s opinions. Those have
perfectionism, often strays from honesty. Social media
culture,
embedded
with
exceptionalism
and
consequences, huge consequences.”
users are capable of excessive transparency. For example, “Finstagrams,” fake Instagram profiles meant for one’s
We put on social and physical facades for observers,
closest friends, diverge personal struggles for catharsis or
especially online. We perform. Erving Goffman, a social
visibility. Finstagrams, accessible to only our closest friends,
psychologist, theorized about performance in his 1956 book
illustrate Goffman’s performance theory. These are both
“The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.” In this work,
frontstage and backstage performance, being semi-public
he details the metaphor of self-presentation as theatrical
but secretive. There are ways to be transparent and counter
performance. Performance, in Goffman’s terms,
the controlled impressions that plague us. Generally, though,
“may be
defined as all the activity of a given participant on a given
users strive to control their public image.
occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the participants.”
Faking It An internet study conducted by Gosling and his colleagues posited that our online peers account for self-idealization.
We put on social and physical facades for observers, especially online.
Gosling wondered if social media users’ facades are accepted or if their audiences see past their masks. “(On) social media, there’s often at least some expectation, some overlap with the people who you also know from
Making impressions on others is meaningful, even urgent to
reality,” Gosling said. “So there’s some accountability,
us. Think of the barrage of notifications we receive daily.
not just being completely fake. Unless you’re going to be
They alert us that someone is trying to communicate with us,
completely detached from the physical world.”
DIMENSIONS