We all possess multiple online identities. And I went into this topic thinking very much negatively, thinking of the extremes like catfishing and how people have the ability to play and toy with other peoples lives. And that was very much reflected in my post.
Alice’s comment on my post really highlighted that I hadn’t really given a chance to the positives that multiple online identities can have.
Multiple online identities can be a good thing. In real life you have many different ‘selfs’, from your work, to family, to friends. And its healthy to maintain these. So why should that be any different in your online life, just because you are behind a keyboard why should it be any different? In the diagram above are a few things you are capable of doing online, with the anonymity you gain. So why is there such an issue? If we have multiple identities in real life, why should we censor our online self?
I still stand by what I said in my first post. Some people use the anonymity to there advantage, to attack people and be a ‘keyboard warrior’, as pointed out by Xiaolu and was a very balanced and contrasting read. There is a need to stop focusing on the extreme and focus on what we are able to do online and what we can develop. I feel Will puts it brilliantly, with a need for more online education on controlling our online selves. Being online offers us a range of possibility to develop different parts of ourselves. This leads to development of multiple selves but ultimately can be pieced together to create one you.
References
JoeBurkeBlogs 
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