The common conception is that because the internet gives an illusion of annonymity, people let down their normal guard, and reveal things about themselves that they normally wouldn’t.

And I think it’s a fine theory, with a fair bit of supporting data.

But in some communities, there might be another reason.

Everyone knows that conversing with people through text alone looses all body language, and most of the ‘tone’ information that makes up 70-80% of what/how we communicate. Whether people know the statistic, or just know it on a subconscious way, I think they respond to it by sharing MORE information than they normally would… in a way to let people know where they are coming from, so they’ll understand more WITHOUT the other data.

More musings.

“My checkbook… reminds me of my therapist…”

An anonymous aquaintance of mine called their therapist their ‘pay-a-friend’ recently, and it kinda bugged me.

My first reaction was “This person is (theoretically) a trained professional.  It may seem analagus to a friend who lets you vent, and offers some insight, but the reason you PAY them isn’t (necessarily) to be your friend, but to guide you through the thicket of wounds in your mind.”

But the problem is that psychology is a hit and miss occupation… When everything is said and done, all they can really do is increase the probability you get to your ‘breakthrough’.  And you’re going to work with some better than others, and some are just better than others (and you can’t quantify it… :-/ )

So I can see why the name ‘pay-a-friend’ came into being.