We think we're all different. And we are different in real life. I like olives on my pizza and my sister doesn't. But online, everyone becomes more and more alike. Blame it on the 150 character limit that Twitter wrongfully imposes. Blame it on tl;dr on Reddit. Brevity is so often valued on the internet that we don't express ourselves and reduce our unique characteristics to a point at which we're all way too similar.
A recent psychological study shows that 4 out of our 5 fundamental personality traits are lessened online. Online interactions just simply aren't as meaningful as in person conversations. News flash. While a few facial expressions or a change in intonation would make sarcasm quite clear in a face to face conversation, the same message would not be as easily conveyed online. The result? People, to some extent, lose their sarcasm online. It's just too difficult to get the message across with the same effect.
Another interesting phenomenon is that every social media platform has a personality that we tend to conform to. Twitter is more argumentative than Facebook where the posts are usually more optimistic. We compartmentalize our personalities to different social media platforms.
So how well can we get to know people online, really?
A recent psychological study shows that 4 out of our 5 fundamental personality traits are lessened online. Online interactions just simply aren't as meaningful as in person conversations. News flash. While a few facial expressions or a change in intonation would make sarcasm quite clear in a face to face conversation, the same message would not be as easily conveyed online. The result? People, to some extent, lose their sarcasm online. It's just too difficult to get the message across with the same effect.
Another interesting phenomenon is that every social media platform has a personality that we tend to conform to. Twitter is more argumentative than Facebook where the posts are usually more optimistic. We compartmentalize our personalities to different social media platforms.
So how well can we get to know people online, really?