Varela, Sandra May GED0109

Can You See the Real Me?

By John Bargh, Katelyn McKenna & Grainne Fitzsimons

According to the Journal “Those who feel better able to express their “true selves” in
Internet rather than face‐to‐face interaction settings are more likely to form close relationships
with people met on the Internet” Social media puts an interesting lens on the creation of the self,
and how this construction affects our mental well-being. One’s self-image is the person we are
based on the actions, behaviors, and habits currently possessed.
The idea of companionship in the internet sometimes have advantages and disadvantages
to college students like us. Social media is not only extremely pervasive, it is an activity in which
you are expected to participate. Not all social media is Facebook and Instagram. Think LinkedIn,
the new virtual business profile quickly replacing the traditional printed resume. As a student
freelance photographer, I very often see job postings that you have “strong social media
presence”, or “influential” and wide range of users seeing your post. We can manipulate
“ourselves” to our liking. It's easy as posting a genuine picture of our self or tweeting an
inspirational quote.
It gives us the image that we are always positive and free from problems. It can attract
friends or users with the same vibes, giving us our own “social circle of friends” They found friends
with the same liking and interests, which makes them comfortable to the things that they can
usually talk about. But the disadvantage of this topic is that one factor for the high rates of
depression seen in social media-friendly people is the inconsistency they observe between their
ideal cyber self and their self-image. The desire to be seen positively has taught us to silence our
troubles and we now have no idea how to express inner turmoil without feeling like we’re
accepting social defeat.
According to the Journal “Experiments 1 and 2, using a reaction time task, found that for
university undergraduates, the true‐self concept is more accessible in memory during Internet
interactions, and the actual self is more accessible during face‐to‐face interactions.” It said that
actual self is more accessible during face-to-face interactions, meaning that when we can talk to
the person personally. For obvious reasons, people always do not advertise their negative traits
on their social profiles, nor do they pose unflattering pictures. Because of this strict control of
the way we are viewed, we are often fooled into believing other people’s lives are much better
than our own. What is essential to remember is they too wear masks, the way I do, the way
everyone does.
Experiment 3 confirmed that people randomly assigned to interact over the Internet (vs.
face to face) were better able to express their true‐self qualities to their partners. Communication
between human beings is always imperfect. Expressing yourself in a completely accurate way is
impossible, especially when it comes to talking about your feelings. It’s much easier to
communicate ideas than feelings. That’s because we are more accustomed to talking about our
ideas. It improves our communication skills. It’s worth doing because it has a huge impact on
interpersonal relationships. After all, verbal communication is the basis of relationship. Whether
our communication works well or gets stuck, much of it depends on the way we use words.