We live in a world where technology is omnipresent and an internet connection is a basic need, a way to connect to the communities which represent the various interests we possess. With the power of a wifi signal, we can not only prove ourselves to be dedicated to and knowledgeable about our passions but also provide the words, phrases, sentences, and ideas that can alter the viewpoints of others. Perhaps you leave a significant impact on tens of people with a heartfelt comment about everyday kindness, or thousands of people with an articulate criticism, or millions of people with a music video that goes beyond simple entertainment value. You, and everyone else who has embraced a devotion to technology, can leave a mammoth impact upon those who sample the part of yourself that you choose to release for others to understand or reject. All of the above is why it has become increasingly difficult for me to separate a vicarious existence across the internet from the drastically different experience that is life in the “outernet,” as members of the social network known as Imgur are especially fond of calling real life.

One of my regular online haunts is nepatriotsdraft.com, a website focused on providing total coverage of the New England Patriots’ actions in the months before the NFL Draft. Even among my fellow Patriots fans, I doubt that many others are seriously interested in the draft process. After all, what happens over a three-day period each spring could have no effect on the coming season for an NFL team. Still, the process of sifting through the has-beens, never-wills, and pretenders to find the next-level stars has always intrigued me. On nepatriotsdraft.com, I can enjoy one of my hobbies with others and find something other than confusion and disinterest. And while my friends and certain family members may enjoy a discussion or two about the draft, they can never match the unmitigated enthusiasm that my fellows on this website invariably possess. On this glorified message board, excitement is the norm and passion the golden standard. Participants on this website value original thought and agree to disagree whilst sharing with other the joy they take in overindulgence in a favorite hobby.

Just as intriguing is the community that Reddit, the self-declared front page of the internet, has cultivated by way of universal inclusion. If you have an interest, be it taboo, commonplace, broad, or esoteric in nature, Reddit has others who wish to discuss it with you in a serious manner. There are fitness geeks, flag worshippers, political enthusiasts, and so much more. Whether you want to discuss lifting weights sans meatheads, find another who is as jazzed as you are about South Africa’s flag, or flaunt your conservative views despite your location in San Francisco, Reddit has got you covered. I don’t visit Reddit myself, but to my knowledge the only hate that it incurs comes from those angry that a certain subreddit, or themed message board, exists. The opportunities to connect with those possessing the same unique set of interests as you are nearly limitless on Reddit, and its greatest flaw seems to be that it is an incredible time sink. But who wouldn’t want to spend all their time with those who agree with them and confer freely about their greatest passions?

Therein lies the great problem with successful internet communities: they often pull their inhabitants away from their goings-on in the real world of audible communication and body language. Those who log into the internet and out of their social life are said to be living a fake life, but online they express their true ideals and views without the same judgment that comes with expressing yourself in a social setting. And who is to say that we pretend online and not in the real world, where to be different is to be scrutinized and the phrase “go with the flow” defines how we work through difficult situations?

Right now, I have found a happy medium where I express myself in both online and conventional social settings, and give quantitatively similar pieces of myself to each community or friend group that I frequent. Perhaps this places me in a position with unique potential for analysis; as a person who embraces both real and virtual lifestyles and exactly conforms with neither I don’t possess extraordinary bias. If you are freer to be yourself online and you see more opportunities to influence the thoughts and decisions of others in this environment, then the constellation of ones and zeroes that is the basis of computing could be realer than any stilted, constraining social setting in the physical world. Still, that doesn’t take away from the inherent glory in meaningful interact with others on a face-to-face, tangible basis. I guess that I see it as a choice: you can truly express yourself through an internet connection or old-fashioned face time, but either option can function as your most honest form of existence. If someone must choose between lies or truth in their life, must they choose lies because the truth comes in a medium deemed unfit by those around them? I think not.