In my opinion, online identity is an extension and supplement of the offline identity, and the offline identity could be greatly affected by the online identity. These two parts are indivisible and together define a person. Even in extreme anonymity website, we still showcase ourselves as part of who we really are, no matter how outside or marginal to dominant social norms. I strongly agree with the author's conclusion that the image shown to others under secular and normative conditions is not necessarily against people's will. Conversely, an online identity that can be manipulated is not necessarily the real one. Or in other words, the idealized online image is less true. The online image will moderately exaggerate their own advantages and cover up their shortcomings based on other people's objective impression of us in the real society.
Our images in society are changeable. In face-to-face communication, people will have preconceived prejudices or stereotypes about our appearance, background, race or gender, which makes them unable to treat a person more objectively. However, in the online environment, the physical body is incorporated from social encounters. This identity megatrend is a benefit to us, which is given by technology. However, this kind of benefit is a double-edged sword. For example, people who have regrets on offline social contact would spend a lot of time building their virtual image. There may be a gap between online and offline images, which may lead to more diffidence or blind confidence. Secondly, because of the beautiful online identity, some people may involuntarily compare themselves with other people's lives, or blindly imitate others' lifestyle. But In fact, everyone has their own flaws in life, nobody is perfect. For me, I am easily affected by other's emotion without keeping a critical mind. I feel overwhelming and exhausting with the overloaded information of social media. It has a negative effect on building up my interpersonal relationship and the balance between material and spiritual life. So I stop posting any selfie and comparing unrealistically with others' flatulent lifestyle. I try my best to keep my feet on the ground and look inside my heart - what really makes me happy and enrich my soul without showing off to others and stirring at the false praise.
Finally, I strongly agree with the author that our identity is influenced by the environment rather than obeying our own will. In particular, we tend to use visual language to show ourselves, rather than words. However, I personally think that writing is a more effective way to show one's inner world and inner beauty. I think with the popularity of Instagram, personal images on the Internet are more diverse and personal than on Facebook.
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