The TV show Severance, from Apple TV, has a high concept - that they could somehow split people so what they do at work and what they do out of work do not connect. It's fascinating and the first season was lighter in my eyes, this season was more bleak.
But the NYT had a great article about it and how people can appear split right now - and in the comments someone from Seattle wrote I've come to the conclusion that we now have people divided into their normal self and their enraged social media self. The normal self, in most cases, shows restraint and courtesy and keeps opinions to itself. The social media self never questions "Should I say this?" they just blurt out vile vitriol.
And that was perfect for me! I do think we often have a split personality when it comes to social media and people I know and like have said some awful things, while strangers have said really vile things. And it is like there is some inside and outside split. I hadn't thought of it in the context of the tv show, but there really is a severance between how people act in the real world and how they act online. (Though how they act online is bleeding out into the real world right now, which is not a good thing at all!)
We have to work to stop the vile rhetoric online, but also to present ourselves cogently, so we are the same person at work, online and at home. Perhaps more relaxed in one environment, but not fundamentally different. And to remember in each environment, that we are communicating with other human beings, as complicated as ourselves...
