Introduction, and "WHY ARE YOU SO UGLY?"

Hi everyone! :)

I'm Miguelle and I'm in my third year of Arts/Education. I did this unit because I'd like to find out how we are changing as technology changes the world around us. I'm particularly interested in how the internet is creating new social situations that probably wouldn't exist if not for the accessibility and anonymity that cyberspace allows.

One example of this is PostSecret, a site that regularly collects and posts postcards with anonymous people's secrets written on them. I see this website as giving people an outlet for their innermost thoughts without necessarily sacrificing their pride or reputations. I assume this started out as a blog and just grew from there, and I know there are now published PostSecret books of the most creative and memorable ones.

Another is Formspring. Since I haven't made--and don't intend to make--an account of my own, I've just linked the main page, so it might seem a bit boring at first glance. But the actual pages are fascinating! When you create an account, people ask you questions anonymously, and once you answer them, both the questions and the answers are posted for anyone viewing your page to see. I've seen questions as trivial as "What's your favourite movie?", as personal as "Why did you and [insert name here] break up?", as suspicious as "What do you look for in a partner?", and as offensive as "WHY ARE YOU SO UGLY?"

Sometimes people don't even ask questions at all. They just post statements like, "Hi, I'm your secret admirer. I see you walking around [insert uni building here] all the time." ...And that's just scary, but I'm just interested in the possibilities the site gives. Thanks to Formspring, so long as people can type and have internet access, they are capable of finding out the most personal things about someone and of comfortably expressing feelings that they otherwise wouldn't. Too easy?

Miguelle