Methodology:
Four individual interviews were conducted over Zoom with (non-SIBT) university students between the ages of 18 and 30. Two subjects were male, and two were female.
Summary:
All four interviewees answered that their “real life” identity is distinct from their “social media” identity; when online, positive highlights of life are shared while mundane and negative aspects are withheld. This is partly because, as Interviewee 3 explained, social media is a very public platform that “sets a lot of standards”. Interviewee 4 also revealed that there is a need to seek online validation that “you had a good time [and] that you looked good”. This behaviour is in accordance with the Self-Disclosure theory which claims that humans will share
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Since they have intimate and well-established relationships with these people, they are “more talkative and outgoing”, free to express their “whole” and “weird” self to them. These findings support the Self-Disclosure, Social Attraction, and Social Penetration theories, which assert that human beings share more intimate information with those they like and share closer relationships with (Sheldon 2015).
The interviewees also confirmed the Users and Gratification theory, which argues that users actively choose different (social) media to fulfil specific needs (Lipschultz 2014; Sheldon 2015); Facebook, Snapchat, and WeChat are used for socialising and supplementing “real life” relationships, YouTube is primarily used for entertainment, Instagram and Pinterest are sources of creative inspiration and artistic expression, while LinkedIn is for business and career management. In addition, these distinct purposes of different social media leads users to express their identity in the following variety of
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Since none of the subjects organise their following into social circles, they ensure that any content they post is appropriate for all their friends to see. To “avoid conflict”, Interviewees 3 and 4 avoid posting “unpopular” opinions or content about controversial topics like religion. Thus, these findings also support the Spiral of Silence theory, which claims that some users refrain from posting potentially divisive material due to a fear of isolation (Sheldon 2015).
Conversely, YouTube is used for entertainment and consuming media. Interviewee 2, a former content creator, revealed that they portrayed a “lovable and funny” identity in order to maximise their number of subscribers. Thus, they established a passive income and fan base to support future career goals in filmmaking. In this case, the desire to gain Social Capital in the form of an extensive following and monetary wealth influenced the subject to present a more amiable identity (Diao
Using the informal tone he enhances his argument by providing several thought-provoking statements that allow the reader to see the logic in the article, “Social media is designed for the information shared on it to be searched, and shared- and mined for profit… When considering what to share via social media, don 't think business vs. personal. Think public vs. private. And if something is truly private, do not share it on social media out of a misplaced faith in the expectation of privacy” (134). The reader should agree with Edmond that when posting or being a part of the social media bandwagon, you’re life and decisions will be up for display. Moreover, the business vs. personal and public vs. private point is accurate and logical, because evidently if you post something on any social media outlet you should expect that anyone and everyone can see it, regardless of your privacy settings. Edmond highlights that Facebook along with other social networking sites change their privacy settings whenever they please without
For centuries, humans have used their interaction with one another to help shape outsiders' perceptions of them. Often communication experts refer to this as constructing one’s “social identity.” For many years, this projection of self-came through interpersonal communication; face-to-face communication or other forms of personal interaction. In the progress of technology, this development of one’s personal attributes has come to include photographs, letters, published and unpublished writings, and physical attributes. Many aspects of a person’s “identity” as others see it are difficult and almost impossible to define. In the modern age, such vague characteristics are both helped and hindered by using social media and the internet to “construct”
“Nothing is perfect.” Though social media brings us uncountable convenience, there is a trade-off with the convenience. Due to the advanced technology we have, social media has become part of our life, which it means that social media could determine our sociability. In Peggy Orenstein’s “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” though she praises Tweeter for its convenience, at the same time, she also worries that “(Tweeter) makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self.” Since we don’t care about who we talk to, we might act abnormally due to our feelings, and
Before the internet, our characteristics such as style, identity, and values were primarily exposed by our materialistic properties which psychologists define as the extended self. But people’s inferences to the idea of online self vs. offline self insisted a translation to these signals into a personality profile. In today’s generation, many of our dear possessions have been demolished. Psychologist Russell W belk suggest that: “until we choose to call them forth, our information, communications, photos, videos, music, and more are now largely invisible and immaterial.” Yet in terms of psychology there is no difference between the meaning of our “online selves” and “offline selves. They both assist us in expressing important parts of our identity to others and provide the key elements of our online reputation. Numerous scientific research has emphasized the mobility of our analogue selves to the online world. The consistent themes to these studies is, even though the internet may have possibly created an escape from everyday life, it is in some ways impersonating
Over a period, more, and more detailed information would be exchanged. The social penetration theory can’t go without the discussion of self-disclosure as it is most important in developing relationships. Self-disclosure is the gradual unfolding of one’s self. It is defined as, “verbally communicating personal information about the self to another person (Forgas 449).” Depending on the stage of the relationship the information can range from thoughts, feelings, goals, fears, dreams, and favorites. Individuals usually maintain protective outer layers that surround a central core that represents the true self. Social Penetration theory suggests that as a relationship becomes increasingly intimate, the self-disclosures become increasingly deep (Tolstedt 85). The first hypothesis which is revealing one 's self can be compared to peeling an onion. Peeling away the layers are similar to revealing more about the self. There are four layers of information that we disclose. The first layer is the surface. In this layer, the information is shallow and usually consist of topics that do not have to be discussed. This type of information is visible information regarding the individual, which can be assessed easily. The second layer is the peripheral layer, where personal information is exchanged. The intermediate layer consists of the exchange of opinions about
We all have a version of ourselves which we show to the world, this face that we show society or as our textbook defines it “The self we allow others to see and know; the aspects of ourselves we choose to present publicly.” (McCornack pg. 52) This social construct allows us to function and communicate with other people comfortably without much self-disclosure, which
The more social media we have, the more we think we're connecting, yet we’re really disconnecting from each other. Communication is a crucial part of the human life when it comes to interacting and progressing our society. Ever since the beginning of as much as we can remember, we’ve communicated in many forms such as body language, sign language and written language. Nowadays, we’ve taken socializing to a whole new level. We’ve constructed a form of typed language with the given name, social networking. There are endless social media sites that make it obtainable to connect between various amounts of people. In consideration of the ability that people can interact through social media, most people own an account for engaging. Granting all this, social media has a lot of negative side effects that cause tendencies and anti-social behaviors in people. Many of social media users are obsessed and become deserted by using social media. The most influential social networks, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are included. It is critical to know why people have to use social media wisely and need some restrictions when using it.
Park, N., Jin, B., Jin, S.A. (2011). Effects of self-disclosure on relational intimacy in Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1974-1983.
This paper aims to explore the different reasons behind people having different personas in Twitter and real-life through a look at how the social networking site provides a unique opportunity for self...
In any relationship self-disclosure plays a necessary role at all stages according to social penetration theory (Verderber & Verderber, 2013). However, as a relationship builds over time so does the information we provide during self-disclosure. Our personality has multiple layers that lead to our inner core, which holds our “values, deep emotions, and self-concept,” (Verderber & Verderber, 2013, p. 170). As we build towards more intimate relationships we reveal different layers of our personality through self-disclosure. When a relationship begins we begin to disclose a lot of information from our public personality (Verderber & Verderber, 2013). For example, we share our name, where we went to school, our major, our favorite foods or movies, and other basic information. If the self-disclosure is returned from our partner we move deeper into revealing our personality with that person (Verderber & Verderber, 2013). After reveling this information, the relationship
“Social media, a web-based and mobile technology, has turned communication into a social dialogue, and dominates the younger generation and their culture. As of 2010, Generation Y now outnumbers Baby Boomers, and 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network” (Qualman 1). Social media now accounts for the number one use of the Internet, and this percentage is rising bigger every day (Qualman). As a consequence, people are becoming more reliant on social media, which has a led to a number of advantageous as well as unfavorable effects. The world is more connected today than it has ever been in the past, and this is all because of growth in technology. What has yet to be determined though
These things have become so common that not having them almost makes it seem like there is something missing. Because of features such as these, it is incredibly easy to share every aspect of what we are reading, doing, eating and listening to with everyone in our social networks. While this has meant incredible advances in the way we interact with our world, it has also fundamentally changed the way our social relationships are created and sustained. Social medial led users to have false impression of others and changed our feelings. Because social media users tend to only show the most positive aspects of their lives, social media users have a false sense of reality when it comes to how they seem themselves, how others see them and how they see other people. “It is not difficult to say that social media effect our perception of others” (Goshgarian213).
When we talk about social media and identity, what comes to mind? We all know they have a pretty complicated relationship, but how exactly is social media related to identity? In exploring the connections between social media and identity, we have realised there has been a gradual but obvious transition within the social media- identity relation. Within this essay I am going to take a look at how the linkage between social media and identity has evolved over the course of my studies.
Upon the advent of social networking websites, an entirely new level of self-expression was formed. People instantly share updates on their lives with family, friends, and colleagues, reconnecting with those they had lost contact with. Social networking has now become an integral part of contemporary society – a modern analog for catching up with friends over slow, conventional methods or finding upcoming events in newspapers. However, along with this freedom of information, the danger of revealing too much personal information has become apparent. As such, online social media poses an imminent danger to society as it blurs the line between private and public information, creating an obsession with sharing one’s personal life online.
Keen, Andrew. The cult of the amateur: how blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the rest of today's user-generated media are destroying our economy, our culture, and our values. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Print.