How often do you see offensive or inappropriate posts on Facebook that definitely would not have been stated in person? Ever see those pictures of friends in overtly skimpy clothing or engaging in inappropriate acts on Facebook? These are definitely not isolated incidents, and are destined to proliferate. Even David Petraeus’ mistress posted statuses that clearly were poor decisions, as they insinuated her insider knowledge on the war in Afghanistan and similar high security clearance events. These lapses in judgment clearly resulted in grave ramifications, as they pinned suspicion on her relation to Petraeus and brought much hindsight evidence after Petraeus’ affair became prominent.
Why exactly do we post these bits of our lives that we would not share in the real world? Why do these apparent holes in judgment online persist? I believe that there is a definitely altered view of online reality by Facebook and online users in general. We log onto Facebook with a hand-selected profile picture, personally crafted statuses, and a carefully maintained list of connections. Based on our ability to pick and choose our online profile and presence, we make Facebook a different platform of reality. Because interacting on social networks appears to be between a person and a computer, we behave differently. In the process, I think we are psychologically led to believe that the Facebook realm does not intersect with actual reality completely, leading some to acquire extensive online presences that do not match up with the real person. That causes the extreme comments, the potentially offensive statuses, and the obviously inappropriate pictures. Posting information behind a computer screen really leads us to act differently.
How can this thought process be corrected? Past miscues are definitely a major source of knowledge for future behavior. Once we make a crucial mistake and experience the ramifications, we definitely learn how to correct ourselves. However, this is a flawed solution. We should never have to experience mistakes in order to learn the right method. Also, it clearly isn’t a lasting solution as some people continue to make these mistakes after a period of caution. The problem is that there’s no silver bullet solution to this thought process. I don’t think we can solve this problem without a complete overhaul of online thought and behavior. Facebook definitely has taken steps to make the online presence line up more with reality (partnerships with other websites to force users to sign in to post comments has decreased some of the obscene and extremist comments), but this issue has not been completely corrected. Thus, I wonder: is this a problem that society should try to solve, or has the advent of social networks shaped our thinking such that this behavior (maintaining a distinction between online and virtual presences) serves as the norm?