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People seem to think it strange that there are sheep online, but I think they just do not properly understand the true nature of the world that they inhabit. True, in that domain people call real life (or IRL, as those people who like TLAs say), you don’t come across many sheep outside of the fields and farmyards, but this virtual world that so many inhabit now is not nearly the same as real life and anyone who thinks that it is, is not only misleading themselves but, also, leaving themselves vulnerable to exploitation and harm in a world which appears relatively safe, but conceals dangers which are not only very real, but can also be difficult to understand and, therefore, prepare for.

What dangers are there?

Generally, the main dangers involve interaction between the virtual world and the real world, ultimately. One of the issues, however, is that people do not fully understand the true nature of the real world which is, partly, virtual in nature. For example, money is mostly a virtual concept (although goods are generally not) and identity, beyond the circle of people who actually know us face-to-face, is also virtual.

But, by far, the biggest virtual component of the real world is inside our heads. We interact with the real world using the model of the real world which we have built over time from personal experience. The model is sophisticated and detailed, but it is based upon a real world which follows a particular set of rules. It is not so easy to adapt this to a world where social interaction is strong, but the normal social cues and physical identities are not. Our normal interaction with other people tends to be largely emotionally based. Emotional interaction tends to break down when the normal conveyers of emotion; facial expression; tone of voice, etc. are absent and we have to rely on simple words, not spoken but typed.

The simple fact is that we are different people online. I know many who claim that they are the same person online as in real life, but they are just deluding themselves. Online interaction requires us to interact with other people and to express ourselves in very different ways to those which we are used to. A result of this is that success in the online ‘virtual’ world depends upon a different set of skills, especially when it comes down to communication.

What happens is that people adopt a persona online, which better suits them express themselves. The person inside might be the same, but the external person, the interface with the virtual world and its denizens, is not. This is a complete personality, at least from the perspective of others, and it can be completely different from the usual personality of that person as the medium favours different traits and the relative anonymity removes normal shyness and restraint.

The point is that we are different online. It can be argued that we are not completely human, since much of what comprises our humanity is lost or compromised. Anonymity encourages crueller and more extreme behaviour. Lack of emotional cues encourages more extreme expression in language and greater potential for misinterpretation. Lack of real awareness of whom we are dealing with, accompanied by a degree of familiarity with that person leaves us open and vulnerable. Many people read what they want to read into online relationships and invest them with emotions which are more to do with wish-fulfilment than anything real and reciprocated.

And through this all we continue to mislead ourselves; to fool ourselves into believing the conceits necessary to support a half-life where the substance has no more reality than the shadows cast and, indeed, often lacks the power to cast any shadow at all.

The point is that we struggle to maintain the semblance of normality within a world which is anything but normal and, in attempting to apply normal rules, leave ourselves far more vulnerable than we are aware and continue to fool ourselves deeper into whatever traps may be set for us.

Hence the virtual sheep; if we must adopt another persona, why not assume one which does not betray us or leave us vulnerable? Why not assume a personality which says to anyone who meets us that this is an unreal world and very different rules apply? Why not flag the dangers and arouse healthy suspicions? Why be fooled, tricked or coerced into giving out personal information just to be given a right to exist in an online social environment like Facebook?

No doubt the counter-argument would be made that greater personal security can be maintained if people can be tracked online and if people can be proven to be who they say they are, but who are the police here; who are the self-styled protectors who hold this personal information on us all for our own good; who elects them and what objectives and goals do they have and ultimately serve? Even more important, possibly, is where this information is going to be held and what claims the state, which may be for some a foreign power, has over that information. It is one thing for the government of your own country to hold information about you, but quite another for the government of a foreign country to hold that information, especially where the policies of that country are against your own interests and/or counter to the interests and policies of your government.

Few people would trust their own governments to necessarily act for their best interests, let alone a foreign power, or strangers from a different culture.

If we need an international persona, then let it be something truly international and not bound to national objectives and policies. Let us be able to move freely across country boundaries, giving minimum information and at our discretion and not the dictates of those wishing to hold the power that our personal information can give them. Let us all be virtual sheep, emerging from beneath a protective fleece only when we wish to do so or when contact with the real world (for example when buying something) makes that an understandable necessity – we can easily choose not to buy, but we cannot easily choose not to exist.