October 14, 2005
slipery handles
Today I leared that a friend of mine changes her IM handle every time she switches jobs. That’s nothing, she changes emails every time a relationship ends.
I don’t know why or when she started doing this, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
Filed by jonah at 1:08 am under fire,metaphysics
3 Comments
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Jonah …
When I read about your friend I automatically thought perhaps there was some reason why she needed to change it … perhaps to start with a clean “slate” or “identity”? Perhaps these relationships didn’t end well and she wanted to “disconnect” from them, disallowing instant accessibility to her. An email can just be deleted, there is no real-time connection. An IM to me is more personal, casual, conveying friendship and connection.
heidi
I was also wondering she does this because of optimism or paranoia.
Someone at Berkeley once remarked to me that she found the idea of not changing one’s name to mark major changes in one’s life weird. She was a Native American woman, and apparently the practice of her nation (if I knew which one it was then, it’s gone now) was to have several names over the course of one’s life.