 In 1959, Irving Goffman introduced the idea of geometrical analysis in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This symbolic interactionist theory makes the analogy of life as a theatrical performance and states that how we present ourselves in everyday life is similar to a performance on stage. Kind of like Shakespeare's famous line, all the world is a stage. So in other words, when we interact with people, we are actors in a performance. The performance is largely based on the values, beliefs, and habits that we learn from social institutions and also our interactions with others. In situations where we don't know the others in the scene on a familiar or intimate level, we tend to present our front stage self. This front stage self is the version of us that we believe will be favorable to others. This is Maggie. Maggie is madly in love with Mike. Mike is an adventurous guitar player in a local rock band with multiple tattoos. His manners are questionable. He is known to belch on cue. Maggie's parents want to meet Mike. They have never seen a local rock performance, and Maggie's dad doesn't like tattoos. Maggie is nervous because she wants her parents to accept him. Mike tells Maggie he's got this covered. On the day Mike is to meet Maggie's parents, he shows up in a buttoned-down long-sleeve shirt hair combed and uses his manners. He never belches. Mike is the actor presenting his front stage self to Maggie's parents. When we engage our front stage selves, we also engage what is called impression management. In impression management, we engage in behaviors that we want the world to see and those are often favorable. Mike wants Maggie's parents to like him and he definitely wants to continue seeing Maggie. Maggie's parents think Mike is polite and respectful and encourage Maggie to continue to date Mike. Over time, Mike and Maggie's parents become comfortable with each other and Mike eventually shows Maggie's dad his tattoos and periodically forgets his manners. This is called the backstage self. This is the version of ourselves that we often present to those we are familiar with. What has happened is that over time, Maggie's parents have accepted him and they are familiar with one another. Mike is able to present his backstage self. On a daily basis, we engage in our front stage and backstage selves and in impression management. The more socially connected we are, the more we tend to manage what parts of ourselves we want the world to see favorably. We do this a lot in social media when we post a status on Facebook that shows we are compassionate. Or when we tweet a witty comment because you want to appear smart and funny. We do this in other instances when we dress professionally for an interview, shake the interviewer's hand and laugh at their jokes. Believe it or not, we engage in dramaturgical analysis on a regular basis.