Our identities have been formed by innumerable factors in our lives – our experiences, emotions, challenges and successes, the people around us, the media we consume… the list goes on and on. But some thinkers, like Erving Goffman, would argue that our identities are less stable and unique than fluid and performative. According to Goffman, we put on identities like actors in a play, adjusting the way we act and present ourselves to fit the situations we’re in and the people around us (or our audience) (Goffman, 1959).
In today’s digital world, it is ever easier to control the way we present our identities to others. Social media can become a “highlight reel” of our lives, presenting only the most positive and flattering aspects. Social media users can filter their self-image to showcase themselves in exactly the way they want to – in a way that easily becomes disingenuous. Posting a photo or update becomes more about presenting ourselves in a specific way to others than anything else, and social media gives us total control over how we’re presenting that image.
The “social media vs. reality” conversation is not a new one, and now many social media users post side-by-side examples to show how easy it is to rewrite one’s identity online. One woman, pictured below, shows just the physical changes that can easily be made through filters and photo editing (Grindell Pettyjohn, 2021). Now, with the advancement of AI technologies, it’s even easier to change one’s appearance and embody a different image – and to change any other part of your identity to match.
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Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
Grindell Pettyjohn, Samantha. “A Woman’s Side-By-Side TikToks Show How Easily Videos Can Be Edited to Create Unrealistic Beauty Standards.” Business Insider, 28 Oct. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/womans-social-media-vs-reality-tiktoks-videos-altered-2021-10. Accessed 7 Dec. 2025.
Scannell, P. (2007). Media and Communication. London: Sage. ‘Chapter 6: Communication as Interaction: Goffman and Garfinkel, USA, 1950s-1970s’ (pp. 145-168)
Hello, your blog does a great job of bringing Goffman’s “performative identity” theory into the digital age. However, I think it also raises a question worth deeper consideration: when we constantly adjust our image on social media, is it still “performance” or have we begun to reconstruct ourselves? Your blog emphasizes that filters and editing tools make identity more manipulable, but I would like to add that this editability also gradually leads users to accept a “malleable self” as the norm, even prioritizing “presentability” over authenticity. This not only affects how others perceive us but also shapes our self-perception in reverse. In other words, digital identity is not just performed but gradually becomes who we think we must be.