Summary of the Digital Self-

-To say that we come to see ourselves as others see us does not mean that our
self-views are thus a carbon copy of the views others hold of us. As Cooley’s
work ([1902] 1964) pointed out, we see ourselves in the attitudes we believe
others hold toward us. It is therefore our perceptions of what others think of
us, rather than what others actually think of us, that affect how we think of
ourselves.
- With the increasing use of the Web cam and Web mike attached to the
computer and providing live images and voices, people are able to engage in
less anonymous interactions on the Internet. However, plain-text exchanges
still dominate the online domains where anonymity is preferred.
-Of course, telecopresent interaction is not completely region-free. During a
telephone conversation, for example, an individual may seek to suppress the
television sound or the laughter of a friend that arises in the background.
Likewise, in the course of a videoconference, participants may choose to keep
certain objects out of the camera range. These are analogous to back region
behaviours in face-to-face interaction, except that in telecopresent interaction
the line between front and back regions is blurred to a greater extent.
-Whether we think we know others and whether we in fact know them are two
separate issues. In a way, we rarely know for sure what others really are even
in face-to-face situations. The same is also true in the online world.
-As has been shown, the Internet is not just a new source of information and a
new form of entertainment, it is also a new domain of social interaction. The
addition of this emergent social domain to the life-world of teenagers has
altered the ways in which young people make the transition from adolescence
into adulthood, and the long-term societal effect of such alteration remains
to be known.