Socializing online and personal identity

One of the teacher ladies who I share an office with has a daughter at university.  Her daughter has to write an essay for English class, but doesn't like writing.  So, she asked me if I would write something for her daughter.  After the initial shock of a teacher asking me to write something for her daughter to plagiarizer I though , why not, its an interesting topic and should be fun.

So here it is.

Who are you?

What is the first thing that came to your mind?  Your name?  Your occupation?  Your nationality?  These are the typical and indeed anticipated responses.  But these things hardly make you unique as a person.  So who are we really?  For centuries thinkers have pondered the question of what makes us unique as humans, and have sprouted a muli-hued garden of theories, explanations and propositions.  Thus far, the question of identity has been confined to discussion of philosophy, psychology and sociology.  Only recently has the attempt to answer the question of, "Who are we?" branched out to the field of computer science and technology.

With the advent of the internet, human beings are more connected and consequently mroe interested that ever in answering the question, "Who are you?"  However, the joy and pitfall of the internet is its quality of anonymity.  We can say and do whatever we want.  We can be whoever we want.  After all, who's going to know?  Massive Multi-player Online video games like World of Warcraft give players the ability to assume the identity of wizards and trolls and such.  Social networking sites such as Facebook allow users to choose for themselves what name, age, job and nationality to present the public.  Discussion forums like reddit and 4chan allow users to participate in discussions while revealing nothing of their personal background or history.  With the rise in anonymous human interaction we have lost much of the structure traditionally used to define our identities

With greater connectivity, so too do we lose personal accountability.  Traditionally, our answer to, "Who are you?"  must pass though our peer.  Our identity must be verified and agreed upon by the people who wish to use it.  The vast majority of internet users lack the tools to do this.  So who are you?  Are you white male American teacher?  Are you a collection of Facebook status updates.  Are you an anonymous contributor to a larger social structure?  I think the truth must be, "all at once."  The internet has not changed who we are.  It has only given us the platform to explore the depth and complexity of our identity.  "Who are you?"  The answer is not any collection of transient character traits, but something much more ephemeral. 

Good luck with your plagiarism unknown ESL student.