Understanding the Self

GE 9

CHAPTER II
UNPACKING THE SELF

LESSON V: WHO AM I IN THE CYBERWORLD? (DIGITAL SELF)

Lesson Objectives:

1. Define online identity;

2. Compare real identity versus online identity;
3. Describe the influence of internet on sexuality and gender; and
4. Discuss the proper way of demonstrating values and attitudes online

INTRODUCTION
These days, more people are becoming active in using the internet for research, pleasure,
business, communication and other purposes. Indeed, the internet is of great help for everyone. On the
other hand, people assume different identities while in the cyberspace. People act differently when they
are online and offline. We have our real identity and online identity

ABSTRACTION
The number of active online continues to increase worldwide. More than half of the population
uses internet. It has only been 25 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee made the “World Wide Web” to the public
and become part of everyday life. The Philippines is one of the countries with active internet users.
 More than half of the world now uses a smartphone
 Almost 2/3 of the world’s population now has a mobile phone
 More than half of the world’s web traffic now comes from mobile phones
 More than half of the world are now “broadband” connection
 More than one in five world’s population shopped online in past 30 days

IDENTITIES
Online Identity – the sum of all our characteristics and our interactions while
Partial Identity – a subset of characteristics that make up our identity
Meanwhile PERSONA is the PARTIAL identity we create that represents one’s self in a specific
situation

SELECTIVE SELF – PRESENTATION AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

Self-presentation is the “process of controlling how one is perceived by other people” and is the
key to relationship inception and development – Goffman, E. (1959) and Leary, M. (1995)
Anything we posted online, we should consider PUBLIC no matter what our PRIVACY

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY

Personal Identity – is the interpersonal level of the self that differentiates the individual as unique from
others.
Social Identity – is the level of self whereby the individual is identified by his or her group memberships

SELF SHARING IN THE CYBERSPACE

Based from Belk’s (2013) Extended Self in a Digital World, Sharing itself is not a new and had
arguably been around as long as human kind. But digital devices help us share more, as well as more
broadly, than ever before
FOMO OR FEAR OF MISSING OUT - Lack of privacy in many aspects of social media can leave the
users feeling vulnerable, leading to compulsively checking news feeds and continually adding tweets and
posting in order to appear active and interesting
DISTRIBUTION EFFECT – part of the reason for so much sharing and self-disclosure online (Ridley,
2012; Suler 2004)
TOXIC DISTRIBUTION – the lack of face-to-face gaze – meeting, together with feelings of anonymity
and invisibility, free us up to self-disclose but also to sometimes ”flame” others
TRUE SELF – aren’t fix or that the self is anything other than a work in progress but “self-revelation”
can be therapeutic with the aid of self-reflexive application
THE TALKING CURE – engaging in social media and forum conversation as a form of self-therapy by
talking things through
FOUCAULT’S VIEW
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GE 9

 In Foucault’s (1978, 1996) view, confessing our secret truths feels freeing, even as it binds us
in a guilt-motivated self governance
 St Augustine & Jean – Jacques Rousseau, help to reinforce this Imperative for self-confession
in an earlier era, just as others’ online diaries and blogs do today
 But the internet has made once private confessions far more public
 Technologies of the “self” through which we seek to purge and cleanse ourselves
 Exomologesis or “Publishing Oneself” has never been easier to accomplish
 Despite the tension between privacy and potential celebrity, our online confession are also
part of the “self-therapeutic” aspect of sharing
NEEDED EXTENDED SELF UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: SELF REVELATION
 There is not only an inward turn in self consciously crafting our autobiographies (Zhao 2005),
there is also an outward turn in terms of presenting these self display for all the world to see
 “Ego Searching” for information about themselves
NEEDED EXTENDED SELF UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: LOSS OF CONTROL
 What was once private is now more likely to be public
 We may exercise self-control but it is far harder to control all out digital self representation
NEEDED EXTEND SELF UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: SHARED DIGITAL POSSESSIONS
AND AGGREGATE SELF
 In digital realm, we are part of imagined communities whose members may not be personally
known aside from their pseudonyms and online contributions (Born 2011)
 PIRATED MUSIC – a case in point of file sharers who jointly assemble and share ownership of
a set of musical files
 Create feelings of group identity
 Joint identity is also found in open sources software collaboration like Linux
NEEDED EXTEND SELF UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: SHARED SENSE OF (CYBER)
SPACE
 Consider cyber space as a public place
 The whole point of Web 2.0 and most digital devices is to facilitate access and information
 “Re-worlding” means taking us out of the constraint or our physical space and providing us with
new abilities: “The ability to remodel the virtual environment extends the identity project far
beyond the body”
 In this re-worlding, we experience transcendence of the body, time and space
 This aestheticzation of life takes place online as the participants soaks in the digital spectacles in
“window shopping” for real world goods
Ebay – effectively giant shopping arcade used to incite consumers desires in a way that merges the
virtual with the real
 “Third Places” is a place that is neither the first place of home nor the second place of work, but
at which people hang out, enjoy themselves, and feel accepted (such as: pubs, café’s and coffee
shops) where “regulars” get to know, accept, and support one another.
 Based on careful analysis of Oldenburg’s (1999) criteria for third place conclude that it is a place
where participants can be “themselves”
GENDER & SEXUALITY ONLINE
According to Marwick (2013) while the terms “sex”, “gender” and “sexuality” are often thought
of as synonymous, they are actually quite distinct
 SEX – biological state that corresponds to what we might call a “man” or “woman”
While “sex” is often explained as biological, fixed and immutable, it is actually socially constructed
(West & Zimmerman, 1987)
 GENDER – is the social understanding of how sex should be experience and how sex manifests
in behaviour, personality, preferences, capabilities and so forth
 For transgendered individuals, understanding gender is changeable or liminial threatens many
assumptions considered biological or “natural”
 Gender is a system of classification that values male-gendered things more than female-related
things (colors, academic dept., electronic gadgets and websites)
 GENDER INEQUALITY
- Heteronormativity is the presumption of heterosexuality unless explicitly stated
- Valuing some experience as normal or natural, while stigmatizing others as pathological or
deviant
- Technology has been critized for this male normativity due to disproportionate number of
men and women involve in technical design and engineering
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GE 9

Normative Gender Behavior – adheres to the dominant understanding of masculine men and feminine
women
Non – Normative Behavior – does not follow this norms
 SEXUALITY – is an individual expression and understanding of desire
- While like gender, this is often viewed as binary (homosexual or heterosexual)
- In reality, sexuality often experienced as fluid
“Queer” can be used as an umbrella term for non – normative expressions of sexuality
- Originally meaning “strange” or “peculiar”
- Decidedly not the same as “gay or lesbian”
- Rejects the binary approach to male/female or gay/straight identity
PERFORMING GENDER ONLINE
JUDITH BUTLER
- Gender as performance
- Gender & sexuality came to be through discourse and social processes
Anything that you do to express your gender which is not innate but is the result of human
cultural ideas of gender – you are “performing” your gender
Almost all gender expression is performed. That is to say, almost every way in which you
communicate your gender to others around you is a culturally determined performance of gender rather
than an innate biological expression
- Gender was performative rather than something that comes naturally to men and women
(like how we present ourselves. How we wear clothes)
- These performances that adhere to normative understanding of gender and sexuality are
sanctioned, while those that do not are admonished (A boy throwing like a girl)
Sandy Stone and other queer theorists were fascinated by the idea of Online Spaces that create
Online Identity wherein users can actively choose which gender or sexuality to “be” (online
games, chat rooms, and any other online sites that required gender)
DONNA HARAWAY’S
- “A Manifesio for Cyborgs”
- A new way of being and thinking about oneself that incorporated both “nature” &
“technology”
Cyberg Feminism argued that “technescience” was potentially liberating for women
- Contemporary technology, particularly the internet, could be a space for organizing,
theorizing, sharing experiences and understanding oneself with tremendous potential for
women
“Masculine” or “Feminine” is reinforced appropriately hewing to gender norm
This happen both online and off. This is due to a variety of factors, including the mainstreaming a
“real” online identity and the structural nature of sexism
GRINDR – a locative app for gay men
Social Shopping sites like Polyvore and Pinterest which are targeted at teenage girls and 20
something women
Social media sites like Twitter & YouTube have purportedly led to the emergence of a “free
culture” where individuals are empowered
SEXIST TROOPS – the meme “Tits or GTFO (Get the f*** out) originated in a forum called 4chan
which is both crude and influential

- Men and Women tend to blog different topic (Men for technology & politics while
women for food, fashion and parenting)
- Although the technology are the same, the norms and mores of the people using them
differ
- Suggests that gender is experienced differently both on and within different social media
sites
“Blogging” was just a new term for online “journaling” & “dairying” activities that girls and women had
been participating in for a decade

SETTING BOUNDARIES TO YOUR ONLINE SELF: SMART SHAMING

 Is this post/story necessary?
 Is there a real benefit to this post?
 Have we resolved this issue?
 Is it appropriate?
 Will this seem as funny in 5, 10 or 15 years?

ARE YOU A GOOD WEB CITIZEN?

 Understanding the Self
GE 9

 Online anonymity sometimes allows people to push limits and act in ways they would not act
 Cruelty, harassment and bullying are closely tied with questions of online identity – like how we
choose to express ourselves, how we establish positive community norms, and how we stand up
against behaviour that’s offensive, demeaning and upsetting

RULES TO FOLLOW
Guidelines for proper sharing of information and using the internet (Your Online Identity 2014)
- Stick to safer sites
- Guard your passwords
- Limit what you share
- Remember that anything you put online is there forever, even if you tried to delete it
- Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
- Always tell if you see strange or bad online behaviour
- Be choosy about your online friends
- Be patient

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Name: __________________________________________ Date: _______________________

RN/Section: ______________________________________ Chapter: ____ Lesson: _______

ACTIVITY NO 9
Who Am I in the Cyber World? (Digital Self)

General Directions
 Answer the following comprehensively based from what you understood. DO NOT COPY PASTE from the lecture. Copy
paste answers will only be given 1 point.
 Be mindful of spellings.
 You can have your answer in a form of picture or screenshot just make sure that it is readable.
 The deadline will always be at the set date. For circumstances where you can’t pass it on the given date, please coordinate
with your leaders.
 For other questions regarding the course, please coordinate with me.
 Leaders can send me the compiled answers of their members through personal message to my messenger account.

ANALYSIS

1. Differentiate Real Identity to Online Identity in your own words. (5pts.)

2. What are the influence of internet on sexuality and gender? (5pts.)
3. What is your proper way of demonstrating values and attitude online? (5pts.)

Note: Please submit on or before May 24, Sunday.