Introduction: behavior in its place

Reading Summary

The excerpt begins with a story in which the author describes how they told different stories of the same trip to different audiences. That these different accounts were all the truth but different parts of the truth. The author states that they did not know that in some situations it was normal to act differently. They used to believe that people who played certain roles in certain situations were not in touch with their “real selves.” Later own after being exposed to the ideas of Erving Goffman and Marshall McLuhan the author explains how Goffman says that behavior is molded by situation and audience while McLuhan discusses changes in the societal roles themselves. Following this the author describes how electronic media has begun to blend the different audiences together and that as a result different aspects of people that would normally separated based on audience and situation have also begun to be seen by all groups of people.

Outside Example

An example that I thought of would be that when i post stuff online such as a joke or image, while there is thought put into the audience who is going to see it, normally i am posting it for particular people because i believe that they will think its funny or interesting. However, some people that the post was not meant for are almost certainly going to see it.

Reading Connection

The connection the reading has with my example is that when i post jokes, memes or interesting articles for my friends to see people who the post were not necessarily meant for will also see it. In this way my private self for my friends and my public self for others has begun to blend. In this way my example connects with the reading because how my electronic media usage has shown a side of my normally reserved for some people to others.