Alan Schaaf Quotes

Originally, technology was pretty clearly on the side of introversion. It allowed introverts to connect with people, to express their ideas in a less stimulating way: you're sitting alone behind a computer. But I'm starting to think that the pressure to self-present constantly online is becoming so extreme.

I'm so fascinated by YouTube culture. I have no idea how it's working, but more and more people are becoming Internet famous, and it is because it allows you to have an atmosphere in which you feel comfortable to be yourself, which you might not get otherwise.

I had a blog where I tried to be transparent while giving away nothing. I tweeted and Facebooked badly. As a writer, your 'voice' is your calling card, yet my voice was becoming indistinguishable from billions of other voices.

Surprisingly, I think if you're known on the Internet, you're probably an introvert.

A lot of people have put their lives online and are using MySpace to manage their social lives.

I don't want to be one of those people that's constantly promoting myself on Twitter. I think the fun thing about Twitter is being able to share all the little random things that happen in my life.

My Instagram is all me. I like to keep it very personal, and I'd like to keep it that way. You don't really follow to see promotional things at all times. It's my connection with my fans.

Tech gives people more opportunities to be themselves in front of other people. Sometimes that's great; sometimes it's bad.

I think social media has been really great for me.

When I joined Instagram, I began sharing my raw photos along with my raw and honest thoughts and feelings.

I think that when you're 5'4" and 150 pounds and you love to chat and you have a blog about shopping, trying to maintain a tiny bit of mystery where you possibly can is not a bad thing.

Everyone his own cinematographer. His own stream-of-consciousness e-mail poet. His own nightclub DJ. His own political columnist. His own biographer of his top-10 friends!

I love Twitter, you know? I try to read everything I can on Twitter. You get so much nice feedback about stuff, you know you just put out a sentence and everybody laughs or everybody's just sending something back. It's amazing. Same with Facebook, you know? I'm a lot on Facebook and it's just - it's just amazing. And YouTube, of course, as well.

But I really believe that when you give people authentic identity, which is what Facebook does, and you can be your real self and connect with real people online, things will change.

To be honest, I've been a passionate advocate for the value of tech to help us connect to people in real and emotional ways - and stick up for myself when people say, 'Sklar! Stop tweeting!'

I'm so thankful for the Internet because actors and singers and performers now have a way to connect with their fans on a very personal level which I think is quite special.

The problem most people make with their media presence is they're trying to craft a media presence as opposed to just consistently publishing who they are.

To me, what's really an important difference between traditional entertainment and digital - on YouTube specifically - is that people thrive when they're authentic about themselves.

Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary.

I like to communicate on my Instagram page with people: use it as a window to my world.

I love Twitter! At first I made fun of it, because it is very narcissistic, and there's already so much narcissism flowing in this industry, I was like, 'Really, one more?' So I was against it at first. But I really love the idea of the direct connection - there's no middle man muddling it up.

Our generation's grown up with the Internet, so it's an extension of our social lives; it's an extension of us. It makes perfect sense for me to use that medium.

There's something about YouTube, where you're not being anybody but yourself. You have the opportunity to start as yourself from the very beginning. From the very first video, you choose what you say, and you choose what's right and wrong for your presentation of yourself.

Twitter is the marriage of full-tilt narcissism and full-tilt voyeurism that has finally collided in 140 words.

People reveal so much of their mental processes online, simply because the psychological effect of anonymity just means that a whole raft of inhibitions are left alone when people log on.