Schizo-netizens: Your cool net buddy may be a geek in reality
Ritwik Donde MUMBAI
ROHAN, is a 15-year old collegian, tall and skinny, a little awkward and
an introvert, but when he gets on the internet he metamorphosises into a
cool dude, who is there in with things, movies, music, trends and gals, of
course.
There are many like Rohan in India leading a dual life – on the
internet. While studies don’t say anything about young teenagers’ psychosis
being affected, anecdotal evidence suggests that a split personality is the
norm these days.
The number of internet users in India is said to be 37m, most of them
are young and addicted to the net for communication. For a businessman
communication is all about mails, for a teenager communicating with his
peers is using the IM on a social networking site. Now, the only way you
will build a buddy list on the net is if everyone things you a are cool dude
or a hot babe.
This may mean that you will evolve an online personality, which will
sometime conflict with your real life character. Dr Harish Shetty, a
Mumbai-based social psychiatrist, says, “The networking sites give a sense
of anonymity to an individual, allowing them to become whatever they dream
of in the cyber world.”
“An introvert suddenly acquires confidence to speak in a public space,
which he may lack in real life, it gives a strange sense of satisfaction,”
says Salama Prabhu, clinical psychologist, Mumbai.
Speaking about the split identities, Ms Prabhu says, “There is a social
phobia among these so-called nerds tied to their computers. The male ego
wants to be a magnet for the opposite sex as they can’t do it in real life
as effectively. This means the average Indian internet user on these sites
lead multiple lives – one online and one is his real self,” says Dr Shetty.
“On the positive side, these sites have opened up options for your
conservative shy Indian to having various types of relationships,” Ms Prabhu
feels. Many of the users of such networking sites share Ms Prabhu’s views
and a clear sign that they have multiple personality is that they don’t want
to reveal their identity to even ET.
Sailesh Kulkarni (name changed on request), an Orkut user since the past
10 months says, “For individuals like me, online portals bring people
closer, after which I can interact more comfortably in person. It is
definitely easier to talk online than in person.” Echoing his sentiments
Urvashi Ketkar (name changed), an Orkut user from the US, says that
considering the number of friend requests I get everyday, a lot of people
use it to make new friends. People, who are shy/low on self-confidence,
prefer the anonymity of online “friendship” because there’s always a
protective layer between you and the other person.
In addition unlike the western culture, where social networking internet
sites will reflect the reality of relationships, the same does not happen in
India.
“Even sites where people meet for marriage, it is difficult to meet the
‘real person’. Indian culture is a huge influencing factor for most of our
user base,” says Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO, bharatmatrimony.com. Bharat
Matrimony has only 30% female users, “Parents are a huge influential factor
for girls to put up their profiles on our site,” Mr Janakiraman says,
“Fifteen percent of our users are parents who put up the profile of their
children on the website.”
When a parent puts up the daughter or son’s profile on internet they are
telling the world that its difficult for them to find a match in the real
world. Even matrimonial profiles in newspaper do not have names, just
contact details or a post box number. Dr Shetty says, “In such a
conservative mindset, how can you expect the fairer sex to go online, and
put their profile online for the world to see.” A woman’s profile on the
internet is perceived to be of someone who is more than adventurous and will
attract all kind of unwanted proposals from schizo-netizens.