Being Social #33 - On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog

A Must Read! Before I get to the main topic of this Being Social, I need to tell you about this article - The Really Smart Phone. Smartphone providers have recently disclosed about much information they store about you. This article discusses the wealth of information from our cell phone data which can disclose patterns about our lives, beliefs, etc. It is very much worth reading. It will likely make you concerned about your cell phone use, although I suspect it won't get you to change any of your cell phone use habits. (Why? Because we love our phones too much.)

Now back to our scheduled topic...

I have had a couple conversations recently about the diversity in our society that have revolved - unfortunately - about diversity not be recognized or appreciated. When we speak of "diversity", we are speaking of cultural, racial/ethnic, gender/sexual, and socioeconomic differences. Respecting diversity means not seeing inequalities, but rather celebrating the differences.

In 1993, the New Yorker published a cartoon depicting two dogs in front of a computer with the now famous quote "On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog." Over the years, people have read that to mean that you never know who you are interacting with on the Internet and that could be bad. For example, that ideal person you are talking with on a dating site could be not so ideal in person. The Internet allows us to hide parts of ourselves and even be who we are not (e.g., famous, perfect).

We can look at that saying in another ways...on the Internet, it is more difficult for someone to judge me based on cultural, racial/ethnic, gender/sexual, and socioeconomic differences. If we're dealing in text, for example, those things that make me different from you may not be immediately apparent. You, therefore, must judge me based on my words, my ideas, and my knowledge.

It is also important to note that on the Internet, we all have access to the same Internet-based information. That can also be a wonderful equalizer. Now if we could only get that equality extended to our off-line worlds!

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Next issue of Being Social will be in about two weeks...

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