Online Identity
The Wängqvist & Frisén (2016) discusses how identity formation occurs outside of the supervision of adult figures much of the time. They discuss the ways in which the internet can now serve as this sort of realm that has less adult supervision. They also discuss the value of having a space where the person can be anonymous and develop identities, such as sexual orientation, that may come with some stigma in an arena that feels safer. This was interesting to me because the authors point out that in online spaces that don’t offer this anonymity, people were more cautious about what they discussed with regards to these identities. I think this is the way this behavior is most similar to adults. I think for adults that joined social networking sites later in life there is likely less identity formation happening but I think everyone on the internet now is aware of the possible consequences of being fully open with their identity on sites that have their actual name. It doesn’t surprise me that children forming their identities are also more cautious about being open on sites that are more tied to their offline identity.
Bozkurt & Tu (2016) discuss the importance of identity formation online by talking about how developing these online identities is necessary in order to be able to navigate educational spaces that take place online. I think it is true that having an understanding of how your view your identity can make it easier to connect to other people that you may only interact with online. I imagine that’s part of the reason we were told to put an image on Canvas for this online class. As the article pointed out, many times learning doesn’t just happen in a classroom. What we’re experiencing right now with COVID is one version of that but also many of my classes in college have had some sort of group chat for people to ask questions and while I don’t have a Facebook or Twitter, I have had teachers in the past encourage us to make accounts on those sites to keep up with the class and make pages dedicated to our course. None of those sites were made for education, as pointed out in the article, but having an identity on those sites can help to take education into those spaces.
I don’t always like this approach, however. While I do like being able to ask questions of my classmates, I don’t have a Twitter or a Facebook and I have made that choice very intentionally. When I have professors that make information available only on those platforms when it comes to stuff like extra credit, I feel like I’m being forced on to websites I don’t want to be on and being forced to create those digital identities when I really have no interest in developing my identity in that realm.
That’s part of why I really appreciated the idea in Couros’ TEDTalk that suggested that people use offline activities, such as the tweet writing activity to learn how those online platforms work while still having time to reflect on what was written and not actually putting anything online that will stay there forever. I think social network sites are kind of like alcohol. The longer you can delay taking it up, the better your health will be but we also have to acknowledge that a lot of people will want to use those things — social media or alcohol — and prepare them for what that will be like so that they can hopefully have a positive experience and avoid the most negative aspects. Wängqvist & Frisén (2016) point out in their articles that most people’s identities are continuously changing and developing. The problem with developing those identities on the internet is that while your identity shifts, everything you put on the internet before remains there. It doesn’t shift with you. Bozkurt & Tu (2016) discuss Goffman’s dramaturgical idea and the idea of front stage and back stage. They discuss the idea of a “glass bedroom” where everyone can see all your “backstage” activity because it’s happening on social media sites. While I definitely think is one consequence, I think a different one is the disappearance of the backstage all together. If everything is public, then people may not feel they can express their private identity anywhere and instead be performing their “frontstage” personality all the time. Either outcome isn’t great and I think that’s why it’s really important to stress that things don’t go away on the internet. While I think it’s important to give kids those anonymous spaces for identity development, I think the encouragement of using a pseudonym and staying anonymous until they are more developed in their identity would be a good middle ground. It would allow kids the freedom to explore their identity without tying that exploration to their offline identity for the rest of their life.
Responded to: Rachel Warren & Sion
