Is it Facebook a real reflection of who we are?

The Age of Information has dramatically changed the way we interact and socialize with each other. In the decade of 1990 the cellphone and the beeper had its own part, then between 1990 and 2000 we had chat rooms and short message service, but what finally changed socializing was the creation of Facebook, which has reduced all interaction to short text message sending or chatting behind a picture that supposedly represents its owner without the need of meeting the counterpart beforehand, a must for using beepers, and cellphones before social networks invention. This new set of interaction possibilities has opened a door to a new social trend based on showing yourself and seem interesting by means of using images and word chunks, which is the only thing Facebook allows you to do for showcasing yourself. However, is this set of pictures or data contained in social network profiles such as Facebook a real reflection of who we are or does it show some unconscious relationship patterns?

It is said an image is worth a thousand words. When people interact with someone in a social network the first thing they look at are pictures depicting the person. The main motivation for doing so might be the curiosity to understand and have an idea about how the new electronic friend is, what is he or she like, or what his or her preferences are about simple issues such as food or holidays. However, we never stop to think whether what we are looking at is actually reality or fantasy, or if our shy newly added coworker could actually behave the way the picture on our screen is depicting. We assume what we see is a reflection of reality and process it as a truly depiction of a daily life we have no access to because we do not know a lot about a specific person. This is what psychologists call electronic indulging; this phrase means people are conscious of what they are seeing might not be veridical, but because they convince themselves they are in front of an unknown facet of a known person they accept what appears on the screen as pure reality, even though it could be Photoshop- based work or biased information. For example, in my case, I own a Facebook account and I never consider that what I am seeing might be false or not representative of reality. I just assume I was granted access to some information I did not use to have before.

However, not everything seems to be negative. Sometimes manipulation of information might help people to boost particularly weak personality features, and therefore, promote positive changes in social and daily life. About this point, there are a couple of ordinary situations that could be useful in order to illustrate how omission or exaggeration of information play an important role: interviews and resumes. It is well known, and psychologists also support this statement, that when someone introduces him or herself for the first time, negative aspects tend to overlap the positive ones and have an impact on the overall impression. Just think about the way you would behave in an interview or with people you have never met before; it is unlikely you start talking about your weaknesses or problems; you would rather start doing what most of people do: selling yourself in a positive way. You would probably start talking about your career and many other aspects you would regard as interesting, and just after a couple of interactions you might think of showing negative issues such as dislikes, fears and things that makes you go berserk, for example. Psychologists say this kind of behavior is normal in human interaction, and that electronic socializing tends to boast the idea of hiding bad issues, after all, there is no need of real face to face contact deferring from a picture or a web cam-based chat session, which are all situations that can be voluntarily controlled. However, psychologists also state that human emotional intelligence allows people to understand after a couple of interactions if they are in front of a liar or in front of someone who is just trying to cause a good impression.

Moreover, people with low self-esteem who start boasting their positive features in environments like Facebook, are likely to change the way they consider themselves after they perceive a positive reaction from peers, no matter they are electronic, coworkers, or friends they just meet for lunch every day. Nonetheless, we must not regard as non-important the fact that profile pictures or data implies only the first bunch of information you get about a person. After all there is more information behind that friendship approval curtain, which can be easily unveiled by pressing the “add friend” or “reject” buttons, just the same that happens with icebergs whose only visible part above the ocean is a tiny tip. Experts in human behavior say people show themselves the way they really are just after feeling secure and having screened the majority or variables which might affect the success of interaction. In spite of this mental process being unconscious, it plays an extremely important role in the way Facebook profiles are built. A survey in England revealed people thought they should show themselves the way they are just after a couple of interactions, and that a Facebook profile does not show how a person really is, nor guarantees success, but is important on the first stage of socialization represented by a peer selection process.

On the other hand, the idea of being veridical might be regarded as an agent of negative impression which jeopardizes the fulfillment of further social interaction. Since most of people regard a Facebook profile as a first impression mechanism, which might not be coincidental with actual facts, but supposed to contain only positive information, the idea of showcasing or portraying negative or undesirable aspects may render the owner of such profile as an unwanted person. Concepts as too Jersey Shore profile picture, too sad childish profile badge, and even too sad lumberjackish for referring to some people´s profiles act as examples of the importance of this Facebook profile awareness, which after being followed properly ends up in fruitful social interaction. I personally have witnessed the importance of this concept by means of watching tutorials on which people advise you in order you get a nice profile picture away from those too Jersey Shore, sad childish, and too sad lumberjackish adjectives. Too hilarious for being true, but it exists and shows how social networks work.

To summarize, whether Facebook provides a real depiction of who we are or not will depend on the way we judge the information we are given and how its owner makes use of it. It seems futile to try to analyze and understand people interact with each other and their motivations to do so, but if doing so could stand as a chance to develop a better lifestyle, then it should be encouraged taking into account the situation does not turn into a false image trying to satisfy an unknown counterpart´s expectations.