The task of defining identity is as complex as the concept of identity itself. Angela Thomas summarizes Butler’s notion of identity as “a performance of fantasy and desire- a pursuit of being and becoming the image of this desire. (Thomas 2007)” Identity is the perception and awareness of how an individual wants others to perceive her against how she is perceived. The internet has added a powerful tool in shaping’s one’s identity. As the popularity of the internet continues to swell, concerns about the impact of the internet on influencing an individual’s identity have been raised. This issue was highlighted when a guy changed his real name as ‘The internet guy’ after gaining popularity with this psuedonym on the internet. Thomas Erickson, an interaction designer and researcher asserts, “Personal home pages and the World Wide Web are not being used to ‘publish information’; they are being used to construct identity—useful information is just a side effect. (Erickson 1996)” The internet has the most significant impact on shaping an individual’s identity because it provides an ideal platform to identify, construct, express and maturate an individual’s identity.
It took several decades for newspaper, radio and television to attract 100 million followers after its advent, but it took less than 5 years for Facebook, a social networking website to attract 175 million active users (Facebook 2009). Socializing network provides a platform for users to expose themselves to the virtual world through personalized pages containing detailed and intimate profile information, images and videos. Many personalized pages even have comment sections where the visitors can leave their feedbacks, allowing the user to cross-check the notion of how she is being perceived against how she wants to be perceived. These feedbacks, if appropriate appeal to the user and end up being a cornerstone in shaping her identity. Facebook reported that at least 15 million users updated their statuses at least once a day; some of whom even changed their statuses more often than their underwear (Facebook 2009). These statuses are a popular form of expressing one’s identity in the form of views as diverse as, ‘The user thinks Israel used excessive force in Gaza…’ to ‘*** wants Obama to pass the economic stimulus plan’.
Through personalized profiles, users get a platform to construct and express their identity. Bloggers admit that through blogging, they discover their views and standpoints on the issues that they were previously unaware of. In Chandler’s study, Tristan confesses, “It [My personal homepage] helps to define who I am. Before I start to look at/write about something then I’m often not sure what my feelings are, but after having done so, I can at least have more of an idea. (Chandler 1998)” It is true that even though certain ideas and notions about an issue are embedded in humans, usually they unaware of such ideas unless they pause to reflect and think about the issue. The internet attempts to make humans assess these embedded notions, a process of identification of one’s identity. The liberty to modify and update their profiles and opinions, allows users to experiment with their identity that is under construction and continuous modification. Chandler suggests, “The rewriting of identities in homepages wipes out those formulations which preceded it. (Chandler 1998)”
With the exponential explosion in the blogosphere and a blog being created for every three babies born on the Earth, the impact of blogs on constructing an individual’s identity cannot be ignored. Blogs, like personalized pages and profiles provide personal space for individuals to express themselves to the rapidly growing online community. In blogosphere, an individual can be himself or herself without any fear of being ridiculed, humiliated or assaulted physically. It is thus no wonder that expression of one’s identity through blogs have proved to be popular among minorities as it allows them to maintain their anonymity at the same time. Minorities such as gays often suppress their identity in the real world due to its biased and unaccepting nature. “David, a gay man in Chandler’s study, reports that his homepage allows him ‘to give a complete definition of how [he] see[s] the gay scene and [his] place in it’…” (Slevin 2000). Such marginalized people find it easier to express their true identity through the internet. The search for ‘The diary of a gay’ is pretty popular with the search giant, Google. The sympathy and suggestions received by marginalized people through the internet add to the maturation and confidence while expressing their identity in the real world.
The role of the internet in maturating identities of people is significant. When people are trying to create an identity, the fear of being alone often scares them and makes them either ambivalent or less vocal of their identity. For instance, the democracy advocates in communist China suppressed their democrat identity in the fear of being alone or executed. The internet provided a platform to these democracy and freedom lovers and china saw an explosion in the number of Chinese bloggers advocating democracy. Many Chinese who had been feigning to be staunch supporters of communists joined in to express their true identity while other Chinese youths were exposed to this alien concept of democracy in communist China. The internet proved to be vital to Chinese democrats in expressing their identity; they no more had to fake their views. Chinese youths resorted to the internet to learn more to shape their identity in contrast to state censored media. One’s identity is maturated further when one meets people with similar identities who share similar beliefs and opinions. The internet provides the best and an unparalleled platform to meet people with similar interests ranging from Lakers to Harry Potter fans and ‘I am a Mac’s to pet lovers.
The number of personal homepages has spawned astonishingly too. Homepages are personalized spaces that echo the user’s identity. Thomas Erikson comments, “A personal page is a carefully constructed portrayal of a person. (Erickson 1996)” Personal pages are like little holes in one’s wall to let others into one’s world. It is a place to present oneself the way one wants others to perceive oneself, the core base of an individual’s identity. Identity is all about how one wants others to perceive her, validated by the popular saying, ‘you are not the one you think, you are the one others think’. Brown asserts projection of one’s identity through ‘posters, postcards, snapshots [and] sports insignia’ in one’s bedroom has transformed to textual and pictorial representations on personal homepages and profiles on networking sites, blogs or discussion forums (Brown et al. 1994). Many people have highly personalized profiles, akin to one’s bio-data that mirror their identity. These profiles are edited and updated regularly, an insinuation that their identity is being transformed using the tools on the internet. Personalized homepages are indeed the projections of individuals’ identity.
The uses of pseudonyms in discussion forums or in chat-rooms are also a popular form of identity expression. Often, the identity of the individual is implicit in their pseudonyms. Several such names could be located on the internet, some of which are hot_guy, iamprolife, littleprincess, depressedgay and hunk_punk that explicitly reflectt their characteristics. The use of such pseudonyms on the internet provides confidence to express the same in the real world. These pseudonyms are often catchy and appealing, thus they impress, amuse and influence other people very easily. The biggest advantage of the internet in shaping an individual’s identity is that the individual can assess the reaction of others towards their projected identity without any serious repercussions. Socializing networks such as Facebook also exposes an individual to the virtual market containing millions of identities to shop and experiment from without bearing any real cost. It allows an individual to experiment with similar identities and adopt a customized identity that is accepted and appreciated widely. This convenient and inexpensive method to experiment with one’s identity is provided exclusively by the internet.
The content on the internet is contributing significantly to carve youths and teens’ identity. This is attributed to their profuse use of the internet, while they are still in the vulnerable process of forming an identity. With the newspapers’ waning popularity and audience among youths, the role of the internet in influencing youths are becoming more significant. The exposure and breadth of perspectives on the internet regarding various issues help youths to weigh both sides, develop their own perspective and construct their identity accordingly. Angela Thomas asserts that, “For children, there is no such dichotomy of online and offline, or virtual and real - the digital is so much intertwined into their lives and psyche that the one is entirely enmeshed with the other. (Thomas 2007)” Through the ingenuity of online business companies, the internet is becoming increasingly pervasive in peoples’ lives. Teens are spending more hours on the internet, in a virtual community than with their parents or relatives. Teens are constantly being bombarded with views, opinions and beliefs about myriad of topics some of which are embraced and adopted by them due to their appeal. Thomas further asserts that, “…moreover through the virtual, children are simultaneously engaging in acts of self-reflection, self-fashioning and identity formation. (Thomas 2007)”
The internet is affecting young people the most, and extrapolating the current trend, it is clear that the internet will have a defining role in various spheres of our lives in the future. Even though currently the internet is not universally accessible, the cutting-edge research and technology will soon make it affordable and accessible to even the poor. Its superiority will become unparalleled. Therefore, the impact of the internet on an individual has to be assessed carefully before it becomes too pervasive in everyone’s lives. Studies that have been conducted show mixed results; some warn people to be watchful and rational by minimizing the internet’s use until proved to be harmless while others show that the increased use of the internet contributes to loneliness and withdrawal from the family and real world relationships and values. However studies concur that the internet has a significant role in construction of users’ identity. The internet has to be used wisely and rationally by people if they are to benefit from the privilege of constructing their identity, using a matrix of extremely diverse and rich wealth of information.
Works Cited
Brown, J, C R Dykers, J R Steele & A B White. “Teenage Room Culture: Where Media and Identities Intersect.” Communication Research 21.6 (1994): 813-27.
Chandler, Daniel. “Personal Home Pages and the Construction of Identities on the Web.” 1998. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/webident.html.
Erickson, Thomas. “The World Wide Web as Social Hypertext.” 1996. <http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/SocialHypertext.html>.
“General Growth.” Facebook Press Room. 2009. 28 February 2009. <http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics>.
Slevin, James. The Internet and Society. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2000.
Thomas, Angela. Youth Online: Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age. New York: Peter Lang, 2007.
“User Engagement.” Facebook Press Room. 2009. 28 February 2009. <http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics>.
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