I remember being on Friendster in college! And being friendsters with all my friends in college! And having SO MUCH ANXIETY about what to write in the "About Me" and "Who I Want to Meet" sections. I am also really struck by/surprised by the idea that being yourself online is passé. Whoah.
I remember being on Friendster in college! And being friendsters with all my friends in college! And having SO MUCH ANXIETY about what to write in the "About Me" and "Who I Want to Meet" sections. I am also really struck by/surprised by the idea that being yourself online is passé. Whoah.
I came back to NYC just after college. It was winter of 1999. A friend of mine discovered Yahoo Personals and was really excited about it. She showed it to me. It said she was blond, blue eyed, 5'5" and 130 lbs. Her height was the only accurate part. I said to her, what on earth is the point of lying!? She said she never actually intended to meet any of these people, so who cares! It made no sense to me, so I went on my first internet date instead, having shaved off just 5 pounds, not 50+. My point though is my friend was not alone in choosing to create an online persona that was more aspirational than real 😂 It had been a battle between 'being yourself' and 'being some better/best/other version of yourself you can imagine' all along. One side lost...
I remember being on Friendster in college! And being friendsters with all my friends in college! And having SO MUCH ANXIETY about what to write in the "About Me" and "Who I Want to Meet" sections. I am also really struck by/surprised by the idea that being yourself online is passé. Whoah.
I came back to NYC just after college. It was winter of 1999. A friend of mine discovered Yahoo Personals and was really excited about it. She showed it to me. It said she was blond, blue eyed, 5'5" and 130 lbs. Her height was the only accurate part. I said to her, what on earth is the point of lying!? She said she never actually intended to meet any of these people, so who cares! It made no sense to me, so I went on my first internet date instead, having shaved off just 5 pounds, not 50+. My point though is my friend was not alone in choosing to create an online persona that was more aspirational than real 😂 It had been a battle between 'being yourself' and 'being some better/best/other version of yourself you can imagine' all along. One side lost...
Yeah, that last notion sort of shook me up too!