The beauty of (and accountability that comes with) the backspace key

Thomas (2004) conducted e-interviews with adolescent girls on an online site called The Palace to get an idea of how these girls were “creating” and “writing” their identities through the structure of both their talk and their avatars. It is interesting to think about the idea of cyberspace interactions as a “mirror stage” (p. 360) on which participants can try on different roles and see themselves as different characters. Whereas there are things in real life over which we have little or no control (appearance, color, gender, etc.), cyberspace allows for a “constructed performance of one’s identity” (p. 368). Because of the ability to use the backspace key, a person can be very deliberate and make sure that she is constructing the identity she really wants to be constructing in that moment.

On the one hand, by looking at how a person portrays and identifies herself online, maybe cyberspace allows us to see that girl more truthfully for what she values and who she wants to be. (How cool to think that online identities, by masking immediate physical characteristics, could maybe allow teachers/parents/peers/society to see potential and ability in students they may have – perhaps unintentionally – previously written off due to some characteristic noticed in that student when face-to-face, i.e. physical appearance or shyness….) On the other hand, it is almost impossible to know a person’s real intentions, for instance, when she is playing around and just acting differently so others can’t “recognize” her as opposed to portraying herself as she really desires to be seen.

As I was reading this article I was thinking about the online discussions I’ve been involved in this semester in one of my other classes. While there definitely is a beauty that comes along with the backspace key, I’ve felt that it also brings with it more responsibility. Because of the ability to read over and make changes to my comments before posting (and the fact that the other participants in the conversation know that I have that ability), I feel as though I have less wiggle room to make mistakes or think out loud. A comment posted online is more permanent; it seems to hold more weight and be more intentional and than a comment made in passing during class, and, for me, feels a little more risky to make. (A difference between the online discussions in my class and in this article, however, is that for our class the comments were not anonymous.)