Hey all, I was too uncertain about chat rooms to do my observation in one. So, I chose the much less threatening task of stalking strangers’ LiveJournal entries. I was somewhat surprised that many people post their blogs publicly on this site, so I had a wide variety to choose from. I read through several LiveJournals and decided against them since I didn’t feel like I had really formed a strong impression of any of the people. Perhaps this is some evidence for the CFO theory, applying more to this one sided interaction via blogs, than to synchronous two-way communication with IM.
Eventually, I stumbled upon the blog of “crazy_shane.” I immediately determined that he was a male artist, specifically creating prints for posters and t-shirts. He had posted some pictures of his artwork, which struck me as another interesting way to form an impression of a person. Since this particular person wrote more freely about himself than many of the other blogs I read, I would say he is fairly open. The most recent post mentioned a busy weekend, going to a concert with a friend, watching a movie with friends, this lead me to believe that he was probably relatively extroverted since he obviously doesn’t just sit around alone. In a later entry he seemed quite conscientious. He posted two simple lists describing his own understanding of himself and then setting goals for change:
“I am not...
going to
working at superbig
being creative enough
using my time efficiently
I am...
Looking for a great job
Doing a little freelance
Saving money to move out
Getting in shape.
I've got many a big battle ahead of me. I need to find a decent job, move out, and start my life. I need to continue working my ass off to get in shape, so far, I have lost zero weight, but now I can run 3 miles in 30 minutes…so I'm definitely in the right direction. I need to make some new friends and do more things…” This post made him seem open to change and also portrayed that he was perhaps trying to remind himself of his personal goals. Even though his screen name is “crazy_shane” he didn’t seem to display any neurotic tendencies.
One feature of his blog was the “Current Music” note, and in several of his posts he wrote that he was listening to NPR. This led me to believe that he must be of a more liberal persuasion and probably more educated than some of the other bloggers. This seemed to fit with my view of him as an ‘artsy’ person. I realize that I assumed a lot by gaining this impression, both about Shane and about NPR listeners.
My impressions of Shane seemed to support the Hyperpersonal theory. Since I only had a limited amount of information about Shane himself, I filled in the gaps using what I knew about other artists and people with similar taste in music and presumed him to be very open, artsy, and liberal. Therefore, he did become something of a stereotype to me, but his list of goals gave me a more personalized picture of this stranger.
2 comments:
Hey nice post. Shane really intrigues me. When I read the part of your post telling about how he said he'd gone to a concert and watched a movie and how that made him seem extroverted it made me think of Facebook pictures. People tag and untag Facebook pictures to depict themselves as really fun and outgoing. How many pictures do you really see of people studying on Facebook? I don't know Shane, but I feel like he may be engaging in some selective self-presentation. I definitely agree with you on the Hyperpersonal theory. I think it's interesting how a person sharing what they want to be/do makes us feel we know them so much more than them telling us how they actually are or what they've actually done.
Hi Amber, I found your encounter really interesting. As I was reading your post and going through the descriptions of this guy's LiveJournal, I was thinking about it just the way you did and can definitely see how you got to your conclusion. I agree with everything you formulated from his being an artist and through his listening to NPR. It could have been an overattribution coming from stereotypes or his selective self-presentation.
I find it interesting that this experience of yours was somewhat the opposite of mine. I was able to chat with someone online for a decent amount of time, but because we were talking about a particular subject (her relationship) and threw in other information about school, I wasn't able to formulate an idea of who she was.
I think part of the resaon why our two instances were different is because of the psychological spaces we were in. In my case, it was conversational, without any intention of really showing who you are. But through LiveJournal, as you have observed, people are actively constructing what impression they want to give off.
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