One Person, Many Masks.

      You are never the same person around your friends that you are around your grandparents. I noticed being around different groups of people in different settings, we as humans change our 'masks' and behavior to fit in with that group of people. In chapter 6 we learned about social interaction and the different roles and statuses we have as humans. We also talked about Erving Goffmans' 'presentation of self' study; this theory or study is about human interaction in a theatrical or role performance. Theatrical performance being the 'performance' or behavior displayed to create an image of who we are, "the act" and role performance being the gestures and language we use and clothing we wear, "the mask." This link better explains the breakdown of Goffmans 'presentation of self' study.  http://sociology.about.com/od/Works/a/Presentation-Of-Self-Everyday-Life.htm

       
          Know how some people say "you're different around them" (them as being a different group of friends) ,or "you're not being yourself", when around friends they've never seen you around, well...yeah, they were right. Don't feel bad or over think it, it happens to all of us. We become a different person around different crowds of people. It could be the difference of the language, clothes or behavior , it all depends on where you are and who is around you.  I change the way I act to appeal or to not offend who is around me. It's like how I wouldn't  curse or use foul language in front of my parents or elderly family members, but I don't think twice about it when around my friends. Around friends, I could say that's when our  'true selves' show, we do and say things without caring, why? Because that's our behavior we feel is perfect for the moment. It goes with the carefree mask we wear, it's part of our role performance for that group of people.
 

    Around my parents or family members, I am a different person. I don't want my parents knowing the language or behavior I exhibit around friends so around them I put on my angel 'mask.' Although I'm not a bad kid at all, there's still that innocent image I want my family to always have of me. It's part of the way I was raised around them and it's part of my role performance to use appropriate language and behavior.  It's just another mask we put on in daily life. Another big social interaction with yet another different act and mask I wear is in the workplace. The way I talk to an employer or boss is way different than how I talk with friends or my family members. I wear my 'professional' mask. My tone of voice is more proper, more clear and my behavior is a professional manner. Sometimes our masks can even be worn while on social media. It's not just physically in front of people but even over the internet we wear masks and display different behavior. This is a link to another blog that explains our social media mask. http://socialmediauppsala.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/presentation-of-self-in-social-media/  
    The many different masks I wear and 'acts I perform' can be hard to handle and hard to identity but  they're different and all play a role in who I am as a person and my personality. I see many different masks people all around me wear and it makes me wonder, do they even notice that they change who they are? Are they aware of the different masks and behavior they display just because of who they are around? So next time you're around friends or at your job or with family or anywhere at that, think to yourself what masks do you wear and why, it's pretty amazing what you'll find out.