Identity Wars On Internet

'Title Wars' over internet, especially on professional platforms like LinkedIn are far more entertaining than 'Star Wars'. Everyone wants to load the title line with amazing and creative titles. More than 80% people run out of space and character limit but not the imaginations. Even the people who pretend that they are indifferent to titles end up bragging about that in the title field itself:). Come on! You could have simply left it blank.

So there must be something in the title. Is the title supposed to give the glimpse of your identity? And if yes, what identity are we talking about? Because there is no denying that the internet has brought us to a world where you can wear multiple identities. Naturally every human being would like to present oneself as an ideal individual. Whether it comes to work life or personal life, we would like to do better and be better. However, it comes down to various life skills which determines if we could do it. 

This coveted gap is then filled, even if virtually, on the internet identities. That's why the world appear a much better place to live on internet than what we experience in real life. There are so many angels, kindhearted and compassionate people all over the social media. Here is a list of people you can amply spot on internet:

• Kind bosses
• Considerate colleagues
• Empathetic mentors
• Loyal employees
• Righteous Sales people
• Dedicated teachers
• Devoted parents

And I wonder, am I living on a different planet or may be in wrong hemisphere at least? Why none of these good, kind, ideal people across my path. Or is it me that is keeping them away? May be I am a sinner, but then they are angels right? They would know that I need them much more than anyone else do.

Most of us have similar experiences which proves the hypothesis that, "World is a much better place to live on internet than in real life". And that's what people are trying to do, live in a virtual world as much as they can trying to fulfill their need of living in good society. Jumping from one social network to another, experiencing different flavors of people, which is not possible in real life. 


But then virtual is virtual and behind the goody goody profiles are real humans. So no wonder one fine day we come across a FaceBook Profile which sounds familiar but appears completely different. When we dig in details, the results are sometimes shocking. Isn't this the guy preaching loyalty every now and then on LinkedIn? And here he is, brazenly supporting job hopping, asking his followers to be ruthlessly professional (read as selfish).

Well that's the fun part my dear friends, identity makeover available at the switch of social network. Live many lives in one, an attractive package deal.

Another example I came across was a teacher-cum-parent who used to blog about parenting guidelines and how parents need to change their approach in raising children with changing time. And how we should have realistic expectations from children and not force our dreams onto them. I used to appreciate those tips and try to practice. The posts went emphatic and energetic after the blogger's child entered 10th standard in school. This exam is an important milestone in child's life, at least in India. She use to post nuggets about dealing with her child in this important academic year. And then came the day when exam results were out. Being a regular reader, I was curious to know how her child performed. But to my surprise, the account suddenly went silent. It took more than 3 months before she slowly started writing the filler warm-up posts, lacking the luster. The following posts were focused on how every failure is a stepping stone. Why parents should not overreact on child's under par performance at exams etc. etc. 

Connecting the dots, it was obvious that this parent took more than 3 months to overcome the shock of her child's lackluster result. 

It is easy to preach hard to practice. 


At least you should be careful about your crafted identities on internet and do a better job of securing them. But how long will you hide in this tiny little internet world. There are smarter people than you think you are. Even if you think you are being meticulous about harboring internet safety and security, you stand almost naked on the net. Connections and network developed using fake or pretentious identities are not yours. You should play the game only if you are mentally strong enough to loose it all one day and loose your face with it.

Conclusion: 
Everyone in the world is an unique creation from the creator. Not only because of fingerprints and retinas, everyone has unique brains and thought process. We have to understand this and work on leveraging that uniqueness. You can look up to someone as your ideal, role model however you should never strive to become like them. Pick up the good things, use them to your benefit, to develop your personality but always remember that you are unique and be grateful for that and be honest with it. If you do this, you will never be tempted to be pretentious. Best part about truth is that you don't need to remember it. Whereas carrying a lie is taxing because a lie soon manifests into a chain of lies and you find yourself entangled into it. Hence, if you remain who you are, on social media, you won't ever loose your sleep over the fear of your identity getting exposed.

You are unique.

You are going to be unique.. 

Do not waste your life in trying to pretend...

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