Today, if you receive a letter—an uncommon occurrence in the age of online communication—a return-address label in the upper left-hand corner frequently identifies the sender. Similarly, several hundred years ago, a crest imprinted in wax sealing the envelope would tell you whom the letter was from. In those days, these seals were extremely important. They were displayed in architecture, on documents, or even on clothing. They were usually in the form of a coat of arms, featuring a variety of colors, symbols and images indicative of how the individual, family, or rulers saw themselves. A lion might indicate strength, alongside a flower native to the owner’s home. Whatever the heraldry displayed, it was designed to say something about who that individual or group was. Today, in a more abstract sense, we utilize different forms of CMC to perform the same task; we consider the complexities of who we are, identify what we consider to be the most important facets of our “selves,” and display these characteristics on digital platforms. This is what Huffaker and Calvert discovered in their study of how adolescents use blogs to express their identities. They concluded,
…our data suggest a tendency for adolescents to use language to create an anchor and a consistent public face as they engage in the very serious business of constructing a stable cohesive set of representations of who they are.
One might consider this “set of representations” as a virtual coat of arms. The subjects used language and quasi-linguistic tools, such as emoticons, to express who they are. As exemplified by the teenagers using blogs to express their gender identities, individuals can come to see their blogs as representations of themselves to the word. This was also evidenced in the study we examined by Grasmuck, Martin, and Zhao, during which they found that, generally, members of “distinct ethno-racial groups” are likely to identify strongly with their heritage through the way they express themselves online. However, just as a coat of arms might be displayed larger on a flag than on a letter, it is likely that some might choose to emphasize one aspect of their identity on their blog more than on Facebook. Perhaps this is because blogs often have specific audiences, or because some views and lifestyles are still not broadly accepted socially. Whatever the case may be, it seems clear that the overwhelming majority see CMC as a way of displaying who they are to the world. In my virtual coat of arms, I might display my cultural heritage in the “Blog” box on the shield, with my political ideas in the “Social media” box beside it. However we choose represent the most important aspects of who we are, there’s no doubt that, whether or not we give it a lot of though, we express these things in our online interaction.
You make such a great analogy with the family crest! We use so many online tools to display ourselves as accurately as possible. I remember when Facebook allowed applications to be put on our profiles, and how much time we all spent rearranging things, choosing bumper stickers, and seeing where we were on Compare People and Top Friends. In high school, those things were humorously important to us, and we jumped on the opportunity to make things our own.
I like introduction, perfect post! I agree with you that doesn’t matter what you display as long as you are using the CMC to find yourself, your identity, and express yourself. People are different, so their way of expressing themselves should be different. Each person have a creativity in certain thing, and each person has different personality. Some people like to share every detail in their lives, others are not a risk takers. After all, we all have choices and it is up to the person how to express who he or she are.
I liked how you connected teenagers’ representations of themselves to a coat of arms. It just just shows how much communication has changed over the years. Even though it has changed with the emergence of all these different technologies, the basic concepts are still the same.
I agree that “that the overwhelming majority see CMC as a way of displaying who they are to the world”. It’s also a way to display who you are to yourself. I think these expressions of self are popular because it allows people to see it all out on the table and they can decide if they like it or not and decide to change themselves or stay the same. People use these online interactions to figure out who they are.
I agree that we are over saturated with CMC options and that gives the notion that we can create or wear different coats of identity on different social sites. I like how you acknowledge topics such as leisure and politics and how you would disclose those topics in different areas.