Internet Psychology: The Double Personalities of Online Vs. Real-Life People

Human psychology is not as simple as it seems. As the title of this article may imply, you might be guessing that the different online personalities we encounter on our everyday internet experience are somehow fake versions of the real people behind them. This isn’t exactly true. 

It is indeed a fact that two different personalities emerge when we compare an individual’s online behavior and their behavior in person. This is especially true when it comes to online chat rooms. However, saying that the personality of a person you’re encountering in a chat room or any other online platform is a ‘fake version,’ isn’t the right way to put it. In fact, the opposite may be true, because, on the internet, you’re seeing a more uncensored version of who that person really is. 

Try thinking about it like this. As humans, we act differently in different social settings. For instance, in the workplace, you can be an entirely different person in front of your boss than you are with your friends. In the same way, you act freely in front of your partner in the privacy of your bedroom which is different from how you would act in front of strangers in the Subway. In all these cases, the different versions of your personality cannot be marked as true or fake. It is all a natural phenomenon where humans put up different layers of reservedness, formality, or superficiality in different circumstances. 

So when it comes to the internet, a particular section of a person’s personality is triggered that dominates their online behavior. The changes in an individual’s online behavior are fueled by the anonymity they enjoy, the freedom of expression, degree of comfort, and their current psychological state. The combination of these factors really brings a truer version of our personalities to the forefront. 

The Role of Anonymity 

On the internet, nobody can tell who you are as long as you don’t reveal your real identity. The degree of anonymity one can enjoy gives you a feeling of freedom and the urge to do things you can’t in front of people who know you or can hold you responsible for doing or saying something ‘odd.’

Here, it must be noted that there still are different degrees of anonymity on the internet. You are not very anonymous on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. These platforms have regulations to only have ‘real people’ use the platforms, but you can still hide your real name and what you look like.  

On the other hand, there are online chat rooms that offer a much greater degree of anonymity. For instance, if you’re in an International Chat Room, you’ll encounter dozens of users conversing with each other, talking about random things and you can do or say whatever you like with the 100% anonymity you enjoy in the chat room. 

The fact that people don’t know you in the real world, you will not be held responsible for saying anything, and the general comfort of being on the internet triggers special human behaviors that are commonly encountered in an online chat room. 

So without further ado, let’s talk about the different personalities you can find in an online chat room, and how you can interpret their real personality with the help of psychology. 

Types of People You’d Find on an Online Chat and Their Real-life Personalities

The Troll

The internet is full of trolls, it might be the most commonly found type of internet user across the many online platforms. A troll is someone who’s always trying to initiate conflict, or arguments in an online setting by making extremely rude, upsetting, and inflammatory remarks. 

They usually use humor as their primary weapon. But here, the humor is limited to the troll only, as the rest of the users find their behavior rather disturbing. Encountering an internet troll is rarely a pleasant experience and the best way to deal with them is to ignore them entirely.

Trolls resort to the internet to vent. When they find no other place to take out the tons of frustration they’ve been carrying on their backs, they find the internet as a convenient option to take out all the negative emotions they’ve been holding in. Take our advice, the next time you come across an internet troll, let it pass. 

However, we should acknowledge that there’s a troll inside each of us. The internet wouldn’t be as fun a place it is now if it wasn’t for the mild and mutually acceptable trolling going on on different online platforms. As long as the trolling is not crossing any sensitive limits, trolls make the internet a better, funnier place. 

The Street Smart

You want to get things done through the quickest way possible? You chat up and make friends with a street-smart person. They are the ones who know how to handle practical situations, no matter how tough they seem. A street-smart person does not necessarily have to be well-educated or academically gifted, but they have the skills to solve everyday problems. In simple terms, they are Jack of all trades, master of none. However, they possess vast knowledge about several things and can help you when no one else does. 

A street-smart person has gained all that experience mostly through trial and error; therefore, mostly, they’ll already know the outcome before things come into play. Apart from helping you tackle a tricky situation, they’ll also have several fascinating stories to share, making your conversation highly interesting.

The Legal Expert

Wouldn’t it be great if you found a chat mate as well as someone who can give awesome advice for legal matters? That is exactly what the Legal Expert personality is all about. These are individuals with extensive knowledge and professional skills about law and courts, and can offer useful legal advice. They can help you with the legal aspects of numerous decisions, findings, and other similar matters. Apart from being a good conversation holder,  a legal expert can also offer excellent recommendations relevant to their expertise. 

The Secret Power

What do most of us desire? Power, solitude, the freedom of being able to do whatever our heart desires. While there’s no doubt that these attributes are great, sometimes they can be the reason for your sadness. 

A person with immense power and influence in the real world, such as a top business tycoon or deep state member, is still a human. They wish to make good conversations, and if lucky enough, life-long friends like a regular societal member. 

As content as they may seem at the top, they really are alone up there, with little to no friends to speak to in real life. And thus, in our chat rooms, you’ll find these people with the Secret Power, just waiting for someone to strike a casual chit-chat. They may hide their real identity, in fear of the society or being taken advantage of. However, those who prefer making friends with the smart and slightly intimidating people, the Secret Power fellas are just for you. 

The Music Lover

For many people, music is not simply a hobby or profession, but a love language. One that they use to communicate in both romantic and platonic relationships. When music lovers cannot express their true emotions, they resort to music to offer you an insight into what they really feel. A music lover forms a deep emotional connection with those sharing this similar love.

As proven by psychology, music tells a lot about a person. For instance, individuals with the well-developed ability to comprehend feelings and thoughts in themselves as well as others, often referred to as empathizers, tend to like mellow music, as it evokes deep emotions in them. So if your chat-room friend is talking non-stop about mellow music, tell them you feel they are empathetic. Congratulations! You’ve scored brownie points right on the first day of conversation.

The Wannabe Ultra-Rich

Okay, so this is one persona almost all of us have encountered and may even remember the internet profile that always acted like the billionaire they never really were. This random internet user may or may not have a $ sign at the end of their username, but one thing is for sure, they never spend a day without posting a picture of a supercar or private jet they’ve downloaded from the internet. 

When you encounter such a personality, it is almost always apparent that they’re bluffing about their riches. But why do they do it? Why can’t they enjoy their online time without lying about how rich they are?

This kind of online behavior can be identified as attention-seeking behavior or a way to gain validation from online peers. Such an individual thinks they might gain respect, attention, and a few praises from his or her online friends if he boasts about the private jet they don’t have. But what they don’t realize is any sensible person can tell a fake millionaire from a real one, and they should stop making themselves look dumb. 

The Attention Seeker

If you see someone posting excessively sad content or telling weird stuff about themselves, chances are they’re just carrying out an attention-seeking stunt. We don’t want to sound too judgmental here, but a prominent attention-seeker is almost always found in every online chat room.

As the name suggests, such personalities are just in need of someone to talk to, someone they can share with. Attention-seeking behavior is common in individuals who’ve not received enough attention from parents as children, and often went unnoticed and ignored by their age mates in school.  

The Shady Mafia Member

Taking advantage of the complete anonymity the internet has to offer, people can portray themselves as they like in an online chat room. One of the most common instances is finding a person trying to look dangerous and all, saying they belong to a gang or something, so nobody messes with them. 

This is another example of a person trying to live out a fantasy in the free world of the internet. Don’t take them too seriously, just have fun. You could play a reverse Uno card and act like a government official, just for the fun of it. 

The Hacker

In fact, there really are a lot of different versions of users pretending to be someone they are not. Someone pretending to be a hacker, threatening to hack your account and know your address while they really can’t do anything is almost an everyday thing on the internet. Admit it, maybe you’ve done this too at some point in your internet journey. We can’t say anything about them except that they’re just trying to have some fun, but one should never do that at the expense of other users. 

The Geek

We all know it. Technology Chat Rooms are brimming with nerds and IT geeks. While this was a relatively derogatory term a few years back, it has somehow become an attractive title in the online setting. So much so, that some people try to act like a geek in online chat rooms. 

Being a geek is sort of like the new sexy. Hence, all the hype. You may find it hard to distinguish a real (tech expert) geek from a wannabe geek, you could only do that if you get to spend some time talking to them and get to know how much they know about tech and stuff. 

What can be said about Geeky personalities you may find in an online chat is that they usually turn out to be really nice and intelligent people in real life. More often than not, they prove to be great friends and go on to achieve great things in life. Just make sure, the geek you meet online is a real one and not just someone pretending to know a lot of stuff. 

The Grammar Nazi

Yeah, their the most irritating group of internet users you’d come across. (It’s THEY’RE, not their!) 🡨 This is what you usually find a grammar Nazi doing all day on the internet. 

These are internet users who are excessively strict about spelling and grammatical rules, they spare no one and are quick to point out any and all writing mistakes they come across on the internet. Trying to correct people and helping them learn is not a bad thing, but it can become utterly annoying when it’s done in a casual chat room setting. We don’t want our commas to be corrected if we’re just trying to have a nice conversation with nice people online. 

Not only do they keep pointing out mistakes, but the average grammar Nazi becomes intolerable for thinking they’re doing us a favor with their free grammar lecture. Someone tell them they’re not the internet’s grammar police. 

Being a grammar Nazi actually says a lot about one’s real personality. Someone who is constantly picking out spelling and grammar mistakes on the internet is usually an introvert who is not comfortable with people who don’t share the same values as them. This also tells that they’re not very smart, and they will often miss the actual conversation or message trying to correct grammar.  

The Furries and Floofs

In an online chat room, you might also come across an “AnimePrincess” or “EmoAngel” with a profile picture of a cute anime character or themselves in a Cosplay costume. While an emo girl or a furry boy can be seen in every other chat room, have you ever wondered why you’ve never spotted one in real life?

Being hot, and online are the two defining traits that also go with the cousin ‘floof’ personality. As compared to other online users, they use their cuteness and shyness to attract interest online. If you’ve been using an online chat for long enough, you might be able to tell when you see a cute kitty asking to be petted or the typical furry girl who never wears their real hair color and they will use extra colorful hairpins and a pair of spectacles to look as ‘electronic’ as possible.

What you need to know about this personality is that these are almost always young adults, going through a temporary phase. The ‘emo’ phenomenon is usually a result when a young person is having trouble transitioning to adulthood. And more often than not, a furry you meet online turns out to be a really interesting and smart person in real life. 

The Alter Ego

An Alter Ego represents an alternative self. Another version of a person’s personality that’s a lot different than their real self. As a matter of fact, among all the different online personalities we’re discussing in this article, the alter ego personality can be marked as the most ‘fake’ or the most untrue version of an individual’s real self. 

Someone who has social anxiety does not have a lot of friends or someone who’s struggling with social interactions can act and even live the life of a popular, charming person on the internet. Just because there are no physical eyes on them, no one knows them for real on the internet, they can live the life they always wanted with the help of internet anonymity. 

However, one must note that the Alter Ego is already developed in all of us as we grow up. It’s just that when you’re on the internet, and you’re anonymous and nobody can see or know you for real, your Alter Ego is able to shine. One feels free to bring their fantasized version of themselves to the forefront.

The Quiet One

Usually, we see that the quiet ones in real life are the most talkative people online. But there’s another type of user you’ll find online, those who stay quiet even on the internet and don’t take part in conversations. 

They are known as digital introverts. Among the sea of countless people talking nonstop about random things, finding someone who’s online but isn’t saying much is rare. These individuals are some of the most interesting intellectuals you will come across. 

It’s easy for everyone to have a say on the internet, but if there’s someone who’s not talking mindlessly even if they have the freedom to, such a person should be taken note of. They are usually highly intellectual individuals who like to observe and rarely give their stance away. 

The Flirty One

The internet has got its romantic ones. Flirting on the internet has really become a thing in the past few years, and it has got its own name too: cyberflirting. 

Cyberflirts are just people looking to have some fun online, and possibly find a potential partner in the sea of online users. Flirting can be seen as a shorthand method to initiate a romantic relationship straight away, and the internet has gotten used to it. 

The Perv

The internet has got its dark side too. There are people who take advantage of the anonymity and secrecy of the internet just for the sake of sexual gratification. A lot of chat rooms on the internet are full of such users, but fortunately, this is not the case with CMX. 

These are usually people shunned by society, who don’t have very successful social lives, and who resort to the internet, the only place they can interact with other people freely, to take their sexual frustration out. 

Such internet users will usually send or ask for inappropriate photos and try to initiate a dirty conversation with other users online. You’re advised to never send any pictures, especially one with your face in it. Also, do not accept any requests or share any information that may put your privacy and safety at risk. Nonetheless, you won’t have to worry about encountering such users on CMX. 

Men Pretending to be Women, And the Other Way Around..

You may encounter internet users lying about their gender. These are usually men lying about being a woman, but it can be women lying about being men too. People usually lie about their gender to try and step into the shoes of the other gender and spend some online time to try and get to know how life is for the other gender.

Lying about their gender usually allows men to enter a women’s chat and gain access to information a lady will share with another lady only. Such individuals usually do this to befriend a woman who will not otherwise let a stranger male talk to them online. 

Conclusion

We’ve talked about some of the most common online personalities you may come across at some point. The take-home lesson here is that no matter how anonymously or shadily a user is acting on the internet, their behavior almost always gives away a very accurate representation of their psychology, who they are as a person, and what’s wrong with them.

With CMX, however, you will not encounter weirdos and perverts because we’re a moderated digital community with smart, interesting, and real people. While most other online chat sites are brimming with bots and weirdos, come to CMX for a premium online chatting experience and a chance to discover funny, smart, charming, and real people!