I log in as:

Notifications: 22 new chats. Status: online. Tap – tap – tap – tap – click: “message sent.” Tick-tick. Five seconds pass. “Message received, typing.” Only the computer can see the real-life image of the person behind the screen — a hooded recluse of a person manufacturing personality and chat lines on the keyboard, which begs the question: are the recluse and the online user really the same person?

“Online, people are not face to face, so it is easy to present a more idealized, ‘perfected’ image of oneself and one’s life,” said Julie Albright, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California. “One can photoshop, tune or filter photos… One can curate one’s life to show only the good sides. I call this ‘the virtual morrow.’ Students end up comparing themselves to others looks and lives that really don’t exist.”

A person’s online and real-life personalities may coincide and differ in various aspects. Although the relationship between online and in-person identities has been a relatively recent scope of study, numerous researchers have observed a correlation between one’s personality traits and online behavior. For instance, a 2013 study at the North Carolina State University found that certain personality traits, such as extraversion and agreeableness, were reflected in the content of one’s social media posts. A 2016 study published in the “Frontiers in ICT” also revealed that one’s browsing history could determine the difference between the online habits of introverts and extroverts. From an analysis of only a brief 30 minutes of participants’ browsing histories, researchers noticed that extroverts tend to use social media to expand their circle of friends and reach, while introverts spend time on the platforms to gain possibly lacking interaction with other people.

Users also have the option to remain anonymous on the internet, allowing them to project a version of themselves that they may not be able to in -person. As a result, introverts may be more inclined to behave more extroverted online. Furthermore, social media platforms and other online communication channels, excluding video or voice calling, allow people to project idealized versions of themselves and hide their negative aspects. While in-person interactions require immediate responses and real-time reactions, online relationships can be developed over different time zones, and users have time to think about their response before replying.

“Usually, when you’re interacting with someone face to face, you can have more deep and meaningful conversations, because you’re actually seeing them, and you can see their reaction,” said junior Samiksha Patil. “But when you’re online… there’s kind of this wall between you [and the other user], and you don’t really know what they’re saying.”

Prior to the emergence of the digital age in the late 2000s, online behavior may not have encapsulated our real-life identities. As social media platforms have become increasingly popular, however, our internet habits and personas have become intertwined into our daily lives: the number of internet users has increased over tenfold from 1999 to now, with about 3.9 billion total current users worldwide.

Despite controversies regarding whether online behavior influences one’s real-life persona, studies have proven that people’s online behavior or activity may affect their relationships or friendships with others. For example, cyber-aggression, an online relationship-based phenomenon in which an individual may intentionally or unintentionally inflict emotional harm on another individual, may translate into physical aggression in real life.

“When online, there is what’s called relative anonymity, meaning one can hide behind a screen, which emboldens people to say things they would never say face to face,” said Albright. “It is easy then for school events to be taken to the online arena, where out-and-out harassment can take place, or more covert bullying, in the form of releasing private pictures or sharing private, embarrassing conversations.”

In a study conducted by the University of Kansas, researchers customized two mock Facebook profiles: one that included a high degree of self-disclosure, with many personal pictures and status updates, such as “my boss just fired me,” and one profile with a significantly lower degree of self-disclosure, with neutral statuses, such as “nice weather today.” Participants of the study were asked to imagine that one of the profiles belonged to their significant other and were then asked their relationship intimacy and satisfaction. Outcomes demonstrated that disclosing large amounts of information online about oneself resulted in lower rates of satisfaction between romantic couples, proving how online behavior may potentially influence relationships with others.

As social media platforms such as Facebook become an increasingly integral part of our lives, disparities between how we discern ourselves online and our behavior in real-life shape not only how others perceive us, but how we perceive ourselves.