:: reality ::

lastnight i talked to brian about blogs, facebook, myspace. apparently facebook is the college virtual meeting place of choice. i was just glad i'd heard of it before realizing that one of my friends is using it as his method of screening new friends. fortunately baylor's magazine had just printed an article about this so i was educated. i knew that it was created by harvard students (figures). i also knew that the people who keep this site up have almost every school in the nation in their network... including good ole SDCC.

what i didn't know (which is more important than what i did know) is what motivates a person to have themselves registered in all these online "things." what if you aren't in the facebook? or don't have a myspace? or (gasp!) don't write about your terribly exciting life in a blog?

is it possible that the rules for being popular just got easier?

let me explain: i have a friend who lives on myspace. hers really is great. i think she has something like 147 "friends." she has a great profile picture, posts slightly questionable surveys (the intrigue...), and participates in forum discussions. in the myspace community, she's a pretty good citizen.

but let me tell you about her. she is actually shy, a little reclusive, and never the person you'll find working a crowd. the question i keep coming back to is, which one is the real her? is this myspace personality going to turn into her reality?

reality: the word has changed. the world has changed. mingo and i were talking a while ago about the secret life of teenagers. the question posed is, which one is the secret: life at home or life with friends? it has always been the given that the big secret is the party/friend life. reality is that the home life is now the one that is kept in the closet. the roles have been changed; the secret is now switched. in a way i wonder if this is what happens with these online phenomenons as well. there is a blurry line but people cross it, the line determining which profile is ours. is it the one people see when they're standing beside us or the one we crafted that is sure to include just enough donald miller to sound intelligent and enough postal service to be current.

or maybe it isn't even postal service anymore. i can't keep up. i give up.