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The definition of “belong”, with respect to an individual, is to “have an affinity for a specified place or situation” (Oxford Dictionary). As an adolescent on the verge of becoming an adult, but with the tendency to act as a child, I have at times questioned where I actually belong in the contemporary world. There are three main factors that affect one’s sense of belonging: the experiences of immigration, influences of social media, and the practice of ‘othering’. In Richard Rodriguez’s, “Aria”, he describes how his family’s immigration caused them to become distant from the unity they once shared with each other. In turn, this experience affected how he belonged in his own house and in American culture as well. Today’s social media streams such as Facebook and Twitter have significant influences on the lives of adolescents. However, they have a negative effect by promoting the practice of having the ‘perfect’ body image, shaping how adolescents belong amongst their friends. The practice of ‘othering’ is initiated by a dominant group towards a subordinate group as a way to define and maintain differences. In his essay, “Black Men and Public Space”, Brent Staples describes how he was ‘othered’ by other people due to his race and ethnicity, which greatly shaped how he belonged in Chicago. As a result, the experiences of immigration, social media, and the practice of ‘othering’ have made it harder for adolescents to feel like they fit in and belong in today’s contemporary world without losing their individuality.

Immigration is not something that occurs in every individual’s life, but when it does, there is substantial difficulty in trying to find where they belong emotionally and physically into foreign society. At the age of seven...

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... up with the latest trends. However, it has a negative impact on adolescents by making them strive for physical ‘perfection’. As a result, we can only find a sense of belonging in the virtual world encompassed by social media and not in the real world, because in reality there is no clear definition of ‘perfection’ with respect to image. Therefore, we are cast as the ‘other’ due to our race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality, and are seen as non-normative. But instead of facing ‘othering’ in an assertive and social manner, we internalize our otherness and become a shadow as Brent Staples did in “Black Men and Public Space”. As Richard Rodriguez proposes in “Aria”, we must learn not to lose our identity through assimilation, and find the difference between public separateness and individuality. In doing so, we will find where we belong in the contemporary world.