Cybergirl

When I was in college, I was watching an episode of Law and Order with my roommate. In the show, one of the lawyers made an inappropriate comment. The other lawyer objected. Before the judge said anything, the first lawyer said, "Withdrawn!" My roommate turned to me and asked, "Wouldn't it be great if you could just do that in life. When you say something inappropriate, you just say, 'Withdrawn,' and everyone forgets."

I was reminded of this while reading Cybergirl. On page 368, Violetta talks about the "lovely backspace." She wrote that in real life, you don't have a backspace. That is the line that reminded me of the above situation. In someways, it's easier to have a difficult conversation online because you have time to think, write, edit, rewrite, send. Although I have also found it hard to express emotions or sarcasm or tell jokes online. Violetta also remarked that it is very hard to express "sarcasam (and other 'tone of voice' things)."

I found it impressing how aware the girls were of this. I think I had thought that people just socialized and chatted online. I didn't realize how much creation goes into their personas. One girl talked about writing in different styles to different people. In order to do this, she must have some sense of audience and author's craft. I can see how many connections to "school-based" writing literacies could be made. Oh the possibilities...