The prominence of social media and computer mediated interaction has lead to a rise in anonymous communications between individuals. Anonymity, in many online contexts, is seen as a negative attribute of the internet; where people are given the option to be awful and toxic to one another through comment threads or community forums. However, anonymity online offers the possibility for personal exploration and experimentation that is often unavailable in real life. Identity development, considered an essential part of adolescence, is made accessible to many through online spaces where individuals can take risks with reduced chance of physical harm. Similarly, the absence of identity that anonymity affords allows individuals the opportunity …show more content…
Erikson asserts that the failure of a person obtain a sense of self identity results in role confusion, where they question their place in society. Proper identity development aims to reduce a feeling of identity crisis through acts of rebellion and experimentation that allow the individual to mold/alter their self-identity. Danah Boyd, a leading social media scholar and Microsoft Principal researcher, taps into this identity dichotomy in her book It's complicated: the social lives of networked teens. In a chapter on identity, Boyd uses an example of a teen’s application to college where his outward facing social media presence reflected a negative group identity (gang symbolism, inappropriate language/references, etc) in contrast to an impressive and personal admission essay. Boyd understands this discrepancy as a survival tactic the teenager feels is necessary to avoid physical harm or becoming shunned by his friends/community. Here, the benefit of partial anonymity is given to the teenager by his ability to honestly express himself to others (the admissions committee) without the awareness or judgement of his peers. This is the power that anonymity online offers those that seek it; it affords teens and young people looking to try out aspects of their identity in spaces free from the lasting judgement they would experience in their offline lives. This is not to say that there are no repercussions online when disagreement arises (many toxic comment threads on websites such as YouTube reinforce this sentiment), but the opportunity to recover in these situations is more
In the article Who or what is defining your self-identity? written by Jim Taylor, Ph.D., Taylor talks about the effects that people’s opinions, and social media can have on the identity of someone. “Because we are fundamentally social beings and an essential part of our development involves finding our place in the social and cultural context… plays a significant role in the evolution of out self-identities.” (Taylor, 1) Many people search for their identity through the opinions of others around them, and if those opinions are negative, them someone will be imbued with a negative image of who they are. “Nor does it provide feedback about how grounded our self-identities are in the reality of our lives. Instead, popular culture manufactures “portraits” of who it wants us to be.” (Taylor, 2) Social media also has a huge impact of the identities of people, because on social media, one is expected to be collected and have the “perfect” life that is depicted on other people’s accounts. On social media, people are told who they are supposed to be, which causes them to become a product of society and find validation in an impossible
Stealing the identity of another is not an honest act. However, the Internet allows many opportunities for exploration of identity and has displayed personal social exploration to fulfill their curiosity. According to Lemke (1998), young people develop a sense of full presence online, living in them semiotically as they make cultural and personal sense of their participation. The shaping of an identity plays a vital role in the online world especially in having sustained online presence within any particular online-group. Turkle (1995) believes identity tinkering online opens the potential for young people to take risks and to explore all aspects of one's identity.
... It allows adolescent’s to speak freely and to reveal their desired personalities that may at all not be true. Some adolescents do not realize that what they say lacks privacy and that their online profiles create a particular perception of Them, they may rarely think of their consequence , these consequences do not necessarily have to be outside factors , these consequences can Have drastic influences on themselves. These social networking sites hinder adolescents identity development, due To the fact that they allow adolescents to exaggerate and when the adolscent does so, this creates the pressure for the adolescent to form a new identity And force them to find a balance between their true nature and desired personaltities, simply altering who they are to meet what they want To be , could have positive influences or negative influences on identity development.
The Frontline Documentary “Growing Up Online” was very eye opening. It’s purpose was to give the viewer a first hand experience in online culture. Some use it for inspiration, to create another life, and even communicate with anyone they want. However, all of these uses can easily become very negative. Some people use this as a tool to express themselves in ways they would never do in public. To teenagers it may seem like a fun past time, and sometimes we forget that the internet presents us with a new responsibility.
Most teenagers in America act differently when they are online, as opposed to in real life. Children today are brought up with so much new technology that they are more comfortable with it, than people. However, if people, especially teens, acted the same both in reality and online, many current problems wouldn’t have arisen in the first place. (McCann). Teenagers today have much more courage over the internet than they do in real life.
There is a constant journey through one’s life to figure out exactly who you are and how you identify yourself. In David Buckingham’s “Introducing Identity." Youth, Identity, and Digital Media, he quotes Erik Erikson’s theory that one of the critical stages of discovering who you are is in your adolescence. Angela Thomas continues this theory with her belief that todays youth can live out their fantasy lives and find themselves through the readily available digital social media.
According to Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development, the fifth stage which is Fidelity: Identity vs. Role Confusion, occurs in ages 13 to 19 years old. In this stage of life, adolescence struggle in finding their roles in the community, searching for their true identity, examining models they can emulate in the future and, and building social relationship. As a result, the adolescents of the 21st century are the prime users of social media sites due to their age group’s main concerns which are social relation and peer interaction. (Regan and Seeves, 2010)
One of the risks that is often seen throughout social media is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is known as a way of deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person (O’Keefe, Clarke-Pearson). Everyday adolescents are given the opportunity to communicate with endless amounts of people online. This opportunity not only enhances the risk of cyberbullying, but also increases the amount of people that can view the cyberbullying. The most common form is known as peer-to-peer cyberbullying. This means that the person being targeted by the act most likely knows their “bully” personally. With the peer-to-peer form being most common, it is often seen that the acts occur offline just as much as they occur online. Dr. Rebecca Mathews conducted a survey as of 2010 asking online users about their experience...
Erik Erikson, a psychoanalyst, coined the phrase identity crisis when he observed a point in one's life where a period of change or debilitating uncertainty occurs. a turning point rather than a period of profound or debilitating uncertainty. Erikson acknowledged that identify issues could appear at any point in one's life, but the formation of identity itself would foreshadow the hardships to come. The shifts of life are often grouped into years, the transition between school grades, but a profound life changes such as parent’s divorce or abuse, accelerate the identity formation process. In a research paper published 2002 by Act for youth, the idea of identity across context was investigated. For example, teenagers often behavior differently when they are around their peers than they would with their parents. A
Multiple identities have been increased by the creation of cyberspace communications according to "Cyberspace and Identity" by Sherry Turkle. Turkle uses four main points to establish this argument. Her first point is that online identity is a textual construction. Secondly she states that online identity is a consequence-free moratorium. Turkle's third point is online identity expands real identity. Finally, her last point states that online identity illustrates a cultural concept of multiplicity. I disagree with many aspects of her argument and I have found flaws in her argument. Technology is an area that does not stand still and consequently outpaced Turkle's argument.
So what is identity? We are not born with our identity; it is something that is constructed socially and often changes depending on the social circle that we are in. Identity is “the self-concept, which is the knowledge of who we are, combines with self-awareness to develop a cognitive representation of the self” (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010, p.118). In other words, the internal and external factors are combined to make us who we are. Now, let’s add in internet media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram or Snapchat are now considered an "extension of everyday life and a tool of cultural change" (Singh, 2010). Therefore, our identity
In conclusion, the formation of one’s identity has many components. Beginning at the onset of adolescence and continuing to expand, grow and form and reform as we live through the struggles or success of life. Many theorists have endeavored to clarify the development of identity formation. However, Erik Erickson offered one significant theory involving the formation of one’s identity. Expounding on Erickson theory, Marcia developed his Identity Status Model according to the existence or absence of crisis and commitments. These four statuses, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement can combine in various ways to produce a self. One’s sense of identity is determined largely by the choices and commitments made, therefore, having a well-developed sense of self can provide an individual with insight to their strengths, weaknesses, and individual uniqueness. An individual that finds themselves
Those with low self-esteem turn to social media for assistance in that area. They may be individuals who feel that they are not appreciated enough in reality and suffer from a lack of self-esteem because of that. Hence, with social media coming into the picture, teenagers can now have that sense of appreciation or recognition from their virtual friends by posting messages about private accomplishments and advances on the social network pages and view or comment on posts by other users (Mitina, M. A., Popkova, E. G., & Ermolina, L. V., 2015, p. 179). However, social media is no utopia. It is not always the case of feeling appreciated or recognized. There is the threat of cyberbullying where the percentage of teenagers who were victims of this ranged from nine percent to as high as fifty three percent (Chang, 2010, p. 515). With cyberbullying and online harassment being a real threat, those who turn to social media with the intention of boosting their self-esteem may find their intentions backfiring resulting in their esteem taking a hit even more. However, social media gives teenagers the ability to switch quickly a role (Mitina, M. A., Popkova, E. G., & Ermolina, L. V., 2015, p. 178). Teenagers can choose an image of themselves for others to see. Plus, they can change this image easily and delete or block out those who are negative towards them. This ability allows
Identities that are created through communication are identities that you communicate to others. They are identities that you express about yourself while you are communicating with others. It is also how other people see you through your actions, ideas, and thoughts. It is how we define ourselves through our communication with others and how our communication defines us (Martin & Nakayama, 2011.) When I am communicating with a stranger, my identity is as a Mexican American. When I communicate with a friend, my identity is as a kind and caring friend. When I communicate with a teacher, advisor, other student, or professor, I am identified as a student. When I communicate
In Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, I thought, “Who am I?” countless times like many other adolescents. I occupied much of my time trying to construct a firm identity of myself, which I now realized did more harm than good. Letting myself explore different interests would have helped me find my identity than me trying to fake some firm identity.