This weeks reading focuses on how racial and gender identities are formed online and how CMC shape how people present themselves. I like this reading in particular because of the build up specifically. A lot of our reading has been so intellectually deep that I’ll find myself reading without actually reading and often have to go back and reread pages that I know I have already “read”. Huffaker and Calvart walk us through the traditional sense of self identification. Normally, up until adolescence identity is built up of “one’s interpersonal characteristics, such as self-definition or personality traits, the roles and relationships one takes on in various interactions, and one’s personal values or moral beliefs”. Once a person hits adolescence, their physical characteristics and social abilities (i.e. being able to vote, drink, entry into 18+ club) began to affect the previous idea of identity.
I love that the author then draws a line of relevance to the way the online user, blogger, texter, etc, develops their social identity. “For the social interactionist language is a key means through which these roles are explored.” That’s to say that just like you finally being able to vote, or growing breast or a mustache affects the way you see yourself and thus define yourself; the accessibility to language and a forum to use it then becomes the way that the social interactionist CHOOSES to define his or herself. I think the word “chooses” is an important word. We cannot control when we enter these adolescent ages, how our mind, body, social status will change. I watched an episode of Catfish and one common sentiment held by catfishers was that it often turned into something they could not control, an addiction. So this reading made me wonder, we often say that online communication and perception of ones self is a choice and I agree that it is, but are the outcomes (i.e. creating a meaningful relationship will misrepresenting yourself) also a choice or is a snowball effect of collateral damage coming from something you can no longer control. Is there ever a point where you can no longer control the identity that you created. I don’t know if I am explaining this efficiently, if it doesn’t make sense forgive me. I am really curious about the psychological factors behind it all.
You mention puberty as a catalyst in identity creation or shift, and I think there are other factors hinging around the same age range that influence adolescents flight to online socializing. In middle school you typically are allowed your first unsupervised computer time, perhaps under the guise of homework, but still. The transfer of emotional needs often moves from family to friends around this age as well. I think these factors need to be considered additionally.
It’s an interesting question that you pose – can people control their communicative choices? I think that’s a pretty complicated issue, really. But certainly it could be possible for these behaviors to become compulsive (which is what people are often talking about when they talk about addiction). I think we have to be really careful about throwing out the word addiction, but certainly there are plenty of kinds of behaviors that people can engage in compulsively (shopping, gambling, video game playing, etc.). While these activities aren’t defacto addicting in the way a drug causes physical dependency, people who use these activities to make up for some other area in their lives (like to self-treat for depression, for example) may very well end up engaging in compulsive behaviors that feel out of their control.
I think, as with drugs, or compulsive gambling, people who engage in compulsive internet use are probably self-medicating for some preexisting issue. But for most people, I think we can control our actions, but maybe do not always choose to put thought into them in advance (and hence blog scrubbing).
Very interesting post!
I really like your title. I feel that you cannot control the way people perceive you but you can control how you give the perception. You can try to change your words, gender and whatever you want online so I feel you could be and do anything but it may take a lot of work.
I agree that you can change your words, looks or actions, but that if people already have a certain perception of you it would be hard to change. I do think most people know how they are perceived anyways and they either agree/disagree with it or just don’t care what the perceptions are.
I think how you present yourself can be controlled, but you cannot control people’s perceptions of you. I don’t think there is ever a point where you can’t control the identity you’ve created. I think people are afraid to present something that might contradict the identity they’ve created because it will make them seem like they have been lying to everyone. However, just as you’ve mentioned people’s physical changes during adolescence, it’s normal that people’s ways of identifying themselves change.
You raise a good point about the psychology of it all. I think it was Turkle ( correct me if i’m wrong) that did more of the psycho analytical integration of CMC. After taking this course I have started to question the effects of all the social sites and ways we express ourselves in different ways depending on the audience. Self disclosure is definitely questionable with all these tempting ways to reveal ourselves on line.
I agree with some of the comments posted about controlling the fact of what people may think about you. Identity of people is always going to be judged whether it is positive or negative an people will always feel some sort of way about another persons identity. An example would be trying to get to know people on social media sites and judging how they might appear online verses in person. People’s physical changes do not make up their identity and people try to make its seem as if that is all that makes up identity.
Adolescence is a crucial time for development, and the internet can aid this growth in various ways. The youth in the study have grown up with the internet as part of their social world. There are endless forums and communities for them to discover themselves socially without the repercussions of normal society. It becomes easier to understand yourself and others, express yourself and get feedback on your formation in a comfortable realm. Especially those who need support as they may question their sexual orientation, philosophy, and values that might otherwise be downcast in the real world. This provides a safer, and more open community.