Internet Personality Facade Syndrome
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We think we have people all figured out. Some of us by the first encounters, but more commonly by a person’s writings online.
As bloggers, we tend to have an idea, a feeling, of how others perceive us based on our writing. And the more we write, the more people think they have us figured out. Sure there is the argument, “You judge by what is apparent.” But how much of what is apparent, is the reality of what that person is like? And how much of what’s “apparent” is misleading to how that person really is.
What if a person’s personality is a little different online than it is in person… does that make that person two-faced?
Not at all.
Just like every single human being tends to have a slight change in personality based on the person we are speaking to, the same goes for the “Internet Facade.”
You wouldn’t talk to a six-year-old the same you would talk to a 40-year-old.
I guess it’s kind of like Facebook, you see someone’s profile picture and you’re like, “Awww she’s so pretty!” then you check the pictures her friends tagged of her and you’re like, “Is this the same girl?”
See, she doesn’t have two faces.. it’s just the lighting makes her look different (often very different) sometimes 
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I would say that a person who reads my blog and has never actually gotten to know me in person, most likely has a 70% skewed perception of who I really am. Of course these numbers are based on my own estimation, and no actually research was conducted for that.
But I think bloggers out there really can relate to the “Internet Facade Syndrome.”
Sometimes, it works in the bloggers favor. They think they are better than the person actually is in person, and sometimes it’s the opposite.
The reality is, that we over simplify things. We make out people to be so one-dimensional, when in reality we are so complex, and have so much history as we grow older that anyone who thinks they have a person’s personality figured out just by their writing, is well, a little naive themselves.
While I was written my columns for “The Daily Reveille” about Islam, I really had to adjust my style of writing based on my target audience, 18-25 year old, mostly white, Christian and republican.
I tried to convey myself as understanding, knowledgeable about the subject I was speaking about, staunch on issues that Islam is firm on, and soft and gentle in inviting them to see the truth. Some people saw me as just that. But there were always those people who saw the opposite, either that I was too tough, too soft, too whiny, etc.
The point I’m making is that we are so quick to judge and label others. Of course we cannot help the persona we get when we read people’s works, but we should not use that as any basis to make any judgments about that individual.
Some bloggers are experts in a particular field and chose to talk about that particular subject matter. But does that mean that that person is obsessed and knows nothing other than their line of work? Of course not.
The Internet is a scary place. It’s almost unreal in a sense. It’s a place where someone can be anything they want to be. We hope, as Muslims, we can try to be as real as possible — but we shouldn’t judge others based on mistakes they make in public or even worse, think that someone is so amazing just based on what they write.
You can be fooled, and sometimes put in dangerous situations either in this life or the hereafter. Take everything in with a grain of salt, give people the benefit of the doubt, but be careful.
And I think we’ve all seen many times, that without a second thought, people will accuse brother and sisters in Islam of having some of the worst qualities a Muslim can have, “The brother/sister is too proud, arrogant, has no hiyaa, etc. etc.”
Let’s think about ourselves first, because we definitely know what we ourselves are like, before we decide to “figure out” everything about someone you most likely have never met in real life.
WAllahu alem.
