Avatars and authenticity

Just read an article on the potential affects that avatars can have on peoples' real lives and peoples' legacies once they have passed. I guess I have never really thought of any of this before my social media class, but the thought of a computer generated image ruining your life even more so after death, is just unreal to me.

To be quite honest, I feel reassured in my decision to remain as low-key, out of the public eye, and off the net as much as possible. My course on social media in the classroom is actually working against me in this sense. If I had it my way, I would not have created an avatar in Second Life and the endless number of online profiles I've had to create would seize to exist.

I understand the benefit of all of it, and I can appreciate the push for incorporating social media into every classroom's curriculum, but there are so many cons in doing so. This article is just a glimse of the issues to surface as the rest of the world becomes enveloped by the "network." Avatars and "second lives" will begin to face similar problems that are dealt with in the real world. The "network" will eventually be the real world and life will be even more complicated than it already is.

I know this sounds like a bitter, older individual who is not willing to accept change and adjust to new things, but my opinion comes from my experiences in trying all these new things. And, so far, I have had more headaches than !Ah Ha! moments in experimenting with it all. Maybe I will have a change of heart, but right now, this article has reaffirmed my beliefs.