Digital Self
Digital Self
Digital Self
• ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE THE SAME (WHAT VIRTUAL POSSESSIONS LACK)
- Digital virtual possessions appear to lack some of the characteristics that invite
attachment to material possessions.
REEMBODIMENT
• ATTACHMENT TO AVATARS
- Those who have an avatar may have in-world autobiographical memories attached to
this character, including their interactions and friendships with other avatars, their missions
and experiences, and in some cases even virtual sex, marriage, and divorce (Boellstorff,
2008).
• PROTEUS EFFECTS
- Even slight differences between our real world bodies amd virtual reality bodies can have
effects on our behavior.
REEMBODIMENT
•MULTIPLICITY
- Virtual world participants can have multiple
characters in order to either gain anonymity to act
out of character online or to explore different
personality possibilities.
SHARING
• SELF-REVELATION
- The sharing of information about self online facilitated by the disinhibition
and confessional effects means that it is now far easier to present our
selves in ways that would have been awkward at best in predigital times.
• LOSS OF CONTROL
- Because of others’ sharing, contemporary processes of self management
are not fully under our control.
SHARING
• SHARED DIGITAL POSSESSIONS AND AGGREGATE SELF
- The acts of sharing either the files or information about the subject matter (e.g., a musical
or film genre) on forums, in blogs, or via ratings and comments on sites like Amazon and
iTunes, create feelings of group identity (Brown and Sellen 2006; O’Hara and Brown
2006).