Our Online Selves: Recent Thoughts on Blogging, Identity and Authenticity

I have been struggling lately with trying to find a direction for this blog—one that fits my current state of being and path in life. At times I feel that I would like to take the blog in a more personal direction, but then I also feel afraid of “putting myself out there.” I see personal blogs that seem to depict the blogger’s life as perfect in every possible way—from their effortless personal style and their impeccable house to their perfect significant other, and I think, “does anything I say really matter if I don’t look great while saying it?”

I think part of it comes from the fact that I don’t much like talking about myself. If you look at my posts as a whole, you would probably label this blog a pop culture/media review site. And you wouldn’t be wrong. However, sometimes I feel like I have more important things to convey, and I fear that I will be trapped in this online persona that doesn’t fully express who I really am (or even who I want to be).

Sometimes it feels as though our online presence is all that really matters anymore. If your life looks good on the page (or screen, rather) you can create the perfect version of yourself—the person you always wanted to be. It’s a bit like the Matrix, really. We project our ideal selves online via avatars and personal blogs, and on the surface, our lives can look perfect. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this idea. Having an idealized version of ourselves ready for public consumption is what drives most of us in our day to day lives. After all, when you go for a job interview, you try to “put your best foot forward.” It’s a part of our survival.

But when do our online lives eclipse our real lives? Do we forget to actually enjoy life when we are so intent on making everything seem perfect online? How many of us have ducked out of view of someone’s camera at a party for fear that the photos will be plastered all over Facebook the next day?

I guess what I am trying to say is, "How can we live our lives authentically when even one image or blog post has the potential to define us in the public eye?" As I continue to struggle to find my online voice, I fear being pigeon-holed. But I also know that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no-one. I suppose that the best course of action is to just not think about it too much, and blog about what interests me in the moment.

Here’s to our online selves…