IRL. Somehow, the world has become a place where we have to clarify our behavior or attitude because we may have multiple. By using IRL, or "in real life," we are automatically showing the fact that we probably act a bit differently face to face as opposed to online. Welcome to online disinhibition. 

Online disinhibition comes in two main forms; benign or toxic. Benign online disinhibition could refer to someone who has the courage to go into detail about their personal life or becomes an open book when online. A favorite example of this is sending a risky text (specifically to guys). If I'm going to confess my feelings for someone, there is a good chance it'll be over text. Why? Because if I don't get the response I wanted or was expecting there doesn't have to be any awkward conversation after. Instead, I can just pretend I didn't make a fool of myself because they never really saw me, right? It could have even been someone else stealing my phone. Judging by the fact that I've done this more than once, I would do it again. Hiding behind a screen to share feelings makes it easier to actually do, and also easier to ignore if it goes horribly wrong. Often times benign disinhibition can help a person gain confidence to do something. Plus, maybe if they can get confident enough to do something online, they can get enough confidence to do it in person.

The second form is toxic. Toxic online disinhibition is usually rude, disrespectful, out of place, or just flat out nasty. It refers to the negative side of online courage. Through toxic disinhibition we see cyber bullying, although it isn't always that intense. My example of toxic online disinhibition comes through subtweeting. More specifically those subtweet wars that can get harsh. Subtweeting is usually talking about someone on twitter (often in a negative manner) knowing well that they can see it. This is an example of toxic disinhibition because it is used to attack someone in a sense from behind a screen. Subtweet wars are definitely not the way to get your point across, however, and usually still result in some consequences of some sort.

We separate our online lives from our lives "in real life," but how much? Think about what kind of person  you are online and challenge yourself to find the true differences and even act online the way you do in person.