- Joined
- Dec 8, 2014
It's because people who know them outside the Internet can tell when they're bullshitting, and bullshitting is a big part of Tumblr. It's easy to lie about being a mixed-race lithromantic gray-pansexual demiboy system who has 5 different personality disorders and lives beneath the poverty line to random internet strangers. But it's a lot harder to convince people who know for a fact that you are a straight upper middle class suburban white girl with zero mental health problems (or at least nothing as extreme as they claim to have). They might take you to task for it, or worse, post a call out on Tumblr and open the floodgates of harassment from other liars who haven't been caught yet.Ok, so I'm still new-ish to the whole tumblr mentality and community and I have a quick question. I've seen this crop up quite a few times in people's "don't follow me if..." Lists, most recently in one of @Lunete's caps.
"Don't follow me if you know me Irl. "
Any clue as to the logic behind this? It's fairly common, it seems, and my first thought was because they'd be too embarrassed for their real friends and family to see the way they act online... But that would mean that these tumblrinas have some sense and shame. That certainly can't be the case, so anyone able to explain this?
I think Tumblrites do feel some shame, but it's buried under the boldness that internet anonymity brings out in people and their desire to fit in on Tumblr. It's easy to fib when no one but you knows the truth, and on Tumblr being a galaxygender cat who is also fifty different fictional characters and who loses all coherence if someone doesn't properly tag pictures of blueberry muffins is normal. Take away that anonymity and groupthink, and they're forced to realize how stupidly they've been behaving.