Identity is something that defines us as people individually and specifically, they are those characteristics and qualities that we all have and make us unique, or at least that’s how it used to be a few years ago before technology posed a great obstacle to to know what a person is like today. As in many other aspects, technology has been decisive in people’s identity for several reasons. We have always based ourselves on the first impression we have of a person when we meet them and little by little we end up knowing the identity of that person over time, however for a few years this has been practically impossible since the vast majority of the world moves through the Internet and everything it encompasses. We live in a society in which we only pay attention and let ourselves be carried away by the impression that social media and all the profiles that are found within them cause us. We have become accustomed to the fact that the first impression of a person we don’t even know is the information they have published on a social network, whether photos, tweets or a post.
The Internet provides virtual worlds that, in turn, provide individuals an outlet for their virtual identity or identities (Dunn, 2013). This quote reflects how people take advantage of these virtual identities to create a “fake” identity of themselves in order to show the world that ideal first impression which we would all like to make. This is done through all the profiles that can be seen online, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even in a more professional environment, LinkedIn or Indeed. Nowadays this digital “identity” is key even finding a job since the better your profile is on a social network dedicated exclusively to finding work the easier it will be to catch a company’s attraction as they are always looking for the person who stands out the most, just like in social media like Instagram, which have given rise to new professions such as content creator or influencer, which are based almost entirely on how striking and outstanding your profile is. Influencers always post and show their fans the ideal part of their life, in which we only see the good moments in which they do exclusive activities, attend important events or give themselves luxuries that most of us could not afford.
Just the way Goffman said all these things that I have just mentioned such as status, a position or a social place are not a material thing, it is just an accumulation of things arranged and taught in such a way that the people who see it feel a certain admiration or an ideal first impression that we would all like to make. This has become an obsession and a loop for many people who have the need to be liked and stand out above the rest in all areas and the easiest and most common way today to do this is through the internet. Unfortunately, due to this effect of social identities, it becomes very difficult to really know what a person is like and receive a real first impression without social media involved.
Bibliography:
Dunn, R.A. (2013). Identity Theories and Technology. [online] Handbook of Research on Technoself: Identity in a Technological Society. Available at: https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/content/70346.
www.adnovum.com. (n.d.). Digital identity: The Complete Guide to Digital Identification. [online] Available at: https://www.adnovum.com/blog/digital-identity#:~:text=A%20digital%20identity%20is%20the.
The Internet age has made it more difficult for us to truly understand others, because we can easily be confused by superficial social identities and cannot know the true identity of others. This reminds me that developing more authentic and deeper relationships on the Internet may require more caution.
The internet role is quite confusing. The identity in internet has much different compare with the real world. What’s more, those “fake identity” have their own meaning. We can ignore their function and influence for human. I have known that there is actually some expert study internet identity and make experiment about it.