Week 2: Social Networking
Using Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is a great way for people to stay in touch with one another, no matter the distance. Just about everyone you meet has a profile on at least one social media platform, and this allows for the world to be much smaller. The question in discussion this week is: How do we define who we are, and shape or reaffirm our identity using social networks?
I chose to use a video artifact this week on how Facebook and other social networks have an impact on our online and real life identities. You can view this video here:
Social networks essentially provide us with a place to share memories. Memories, according to John Locke, are the essence of our identity because we construct our identity based on what we remember of our past experiences. Because of this, we construct our social media accounts to advertise the parts of us that we would like to remember, such as special days in our lives, places that we've been, and life's milestones. These sort of posts come together to reflect a portrait of our online selves.
These memories may not be special to anyone else viewing it online, but they are important to us and shape who we are. These memories are then permanently saved under our accounts and can be revisited by us or anyone else later on in life.
The hard part about creating a social identity for yourself is that followers or "friends" then create the notion that your online identity is equal to your real-life identity, that the two are one in the same. This leads to envy, comparing yourself to others, and all of the other self-confidence issues that are widespread among teens these days.
We as members of social media must look at these networks as "memory books" that others wish to keep and share in an online environment. These accounts only seek to promote the best of one's life, and nothing else. We cannot let the things we see on social media cloud our judgment of what someone's true, real life identity is. The online identity is merely a fairytale in most cases.
References:
Is Facebook Changing Our Identity? [Video file]. (2012, September 12). Retrieved May 16, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRiGZJQZ_X4
I chose to use a video artifact this week on how Facebook and other social networks have an impact on our online and real life identities. You can view this video here:
Social networks essentially provide us with a place to share memories. Memories, according to John Locke, are the essence of our identity because we construct our identity based on what we remember of our past experiences. Because of this, we construct our social media accounts to advertise the parts of us that we would like to remember, such as special days in our lives, places that we've been, and life's milestones. These sort of posts come together to reflect a portrait of our online selves.
These memories may not be special to anyone else viewing it online, but they are important to us and shape who we are. These memories are then permanently saved under our accounts and can be revisited by us or anyone else later on in life.
The hard part about creating a social identity for yourself is that followers or "friends" then create the notion that your online identity is equal to your real-life identity, that the two are one in the same. This leads to envy, comparing yourself to others, and all of the other self-confidence issues that are widespread among teens these days.
We as members of social media must look at these networks as "memory books" that others wish to keep and share in an online environment. These accounts only seek to promote the best of one's life, and nothing else. We cannot let the things we see on social media cloud our judgment of what someone's true, real life identity is. The online identity is merely a fairytale in most cases.
References:
Is Facebook Changing Our Identity? [Video file]. (2012, September 12). Retrieved May 16, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRiGZJQZ_X4
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