Comfort in variability (Part 2)

Followup to: Comfort in variability

In the electronic age we wear all mankind as our skin
(Marshall McLuhan, 1964)

This isn't really intended to be an autobiography. And so, I didn't want to spend too much time boring you with my past. However, these first few "background" posts are necessary to establish the narrative surrounding the ideas I'm trying to share. So, while aiming for brevity I managed to miss one of the most important factors influencing my early development: the mid-90s Internet.

The internet has changed a lot since those times, and so have the ways we communicate with one another using it. Back then, you could talk to someone for months without ever knowing what they look like or what their real name was. You couldn't skim through the last two years of their life in a blog and assume you know them before deciding to strike up a conversation. You couldn't compare your interests with theirs and decide if they were "friend material". In very rare cases another user would have a picture of themselves online that they could send you. But for the most part, you could forget about browsing through their photo albums to get an idea for how "OMG HAWT!!1" they are.

The only way to really get to know someone back then was to actually SPEAK to them. People were judged not by their bodies, their nationality or their age - but by their conversational ability. How interesting or how nice they were.

Non-restricted freedom, openness of idea sharing with people sometimes twice my age, freedom from the limitations of distance or time - under these conditions my sense of self moved fluidly to fill this space of limitless possibilities.

Now, there's something important I should mention. It wasn't the online culture that allowed this mutability. It was the technology.
One of the FIRST things people at the time would ask another person online was:
"a/s/l ?"
Age.
Sex.
Location.

All physical and quantitative details that serve only to give the other person some impression that they know something about you.

It's funny. Given the possibility of a medium free from the constraints of our physical world, the majority of people chose to drag their mundane worldly details into these digital places.

So, I'd lie.

There were those who didn't want to talk on equal ground with a 12 year old, so I told them I was their age and we would end up having deep multiple-hour conversations.

This behavior online taught me some important lessons about my fellow humans.
I learned that the differences between us are only in our minds. Generally, most people want the same basic things in life. And last of all, most people are interesting in some way if you talk to them long enough.

When I look back at these ideas I came across a decade ago I can't help but look ten years forward. I see ample opportunity for limitless self-expression, I just hope people approach it in a less boring way. Hopefully I can play some part in inspiring awareness of just how free we are becoming.

Otherwise we'll be like the lifelong caged animal that doesn't realize what an unlocked open door means.