Lesson 5.

The Digital Self

The term “online identity” implies that there is a distinction between how people
present themselves online and how they do offline. In contrast to the internet of the
1990s, people today use social media primarily to communicate with people they know
in real life contexts like home, work, and school. Second, wireless networking and
portable devices like smart phones and tablets make it easy to access social media as
part of day-to-day life, rather than having to formally “log on” to the internet.

We are living in a digital age and other than face to face interaction, we have
interactions involving technology – cellular phones, computers and other gadgets. Thus,
we build our digital self. Digital self is the persona you use when you are online. Some
people maintain one or more online identities that are distinct from their real world
selves. This lesson will help you understand how online identity is established based on
what information you offer in technology- interactions. This is also present what you can
do to protect your online personality that can affect your offline personality.

What to Expect?

At the end of this lesson, the student is expected to:

1. Discuss about online identity and their self in cyberspace and user id;
2. Expound selective self-presentation and impression management;
3. Evaluate the impact of online interactions on the self; and
4. Establish boundaries of the online self: private vs. public, personal vs. social
identity online; gender and sexuality online.

Online Identity and Self in Cyberspace

Online identity is the sum of your characteristics and interactions. Because you
interact differently with each website you visit, each of those websites will have a
different picture of who you are and what you do. Sometimes the different
representations of you are referred to a partial identities, because none of them has the
full and true picture of who you are. Your online identity is not the same as your real-
world identity because the characteristics you represent online differ from the
characteristics you represent in the physical world.

Social media like social network sites, blogs, and online personals require users
to self-consciously create a virtual depictions of themselves. Every website that you
interact with will collect its own version of who you are, based on the information that
you have shared. Thus, it is up to you how you will represent yourself as closely as who
you are and what you do in real life or selectively, to create a representation far from
your real life. This explains why our behaviors can change if we notice that we are being
watched or observed. This self- presentation can also change depending on who we are
interacting with or what personal information we need to providing to present ourselves
in a way that will be acceptable to others. Thus, we can select only what we want to
present and impress to others, what we view beneficial to our personality, especially
when we create a digital self.

Impact of Online Interactions on the Self

When interacting with people, we automatically make inferences about them

without even being consciously aware of it. We cannot help but what they are thinking
about, what their facial expressions mean, what their intentions are, and so on.
Research suggests that young users report increased self-esteem and general well-
being following instances of positive feedback on social networking sites. Facebook
users were most satisfied with their lives and exhibited greater social and political
engagement. However, online interactions cannot reveal our true feelings and can
decrease people’s happiness levels. It is easier to hide our emotions behind an email, a
Facebook post or a tweet. Moreover, browsing social media sites can lead to feelings of
jealousy when we compare self to the online personal of others.

Compared with face-to-face presentations, online interactions enable us to self-

censor to a greater extent and manage our online identities more strategically which
provides greater opportunity to misrepresent ourselves.
 The positive impact of social media and online interaction on the self:

1. Social media sites inform and empower individuals to change themselves and
their communities.
2. Increased self-esteem when receiving many likes and shares.
3. Boost one’s moral and feelings of self- worth

The negative impact of social media and online interaction on the self:

1. Extensive online engagement is correlated with personality and brain disorders

like poor social skills.
2. Low self- esteem due to the risk of being exposed to cyberbullying and cyber-
pornography.
3. More occupied in giving attention to social media than in keeping their customs
and practices.

Extended Self in a Digital World

Russell W. Belk on his “Extended Self in a Digital World” presents five changes
emerging from our current digital age:

1. Dematerialization

Things are disappearing right before our eyes – our information,

communications, photos, videos, music, calculations, messages, written words are
now largely invisible and immaterial, composed of electronic streams stored in digital
storage devices in locations we will never know. Belk proposes four functions of
virtual consumptions:

a. Stimulates consumer desire for both material and virtual goods.

b. Actualizes possible daydreams such as those of wealth and status by
enacting them in video games.
 c. Actualizes impossible fantasies such as being a magician or space pirate with
magical objects.
d. Facilitate experimentation such as being a criminal in a video game. Reports
show that virtual goods are now some of the most valued commodities for
cybercriminals who attempt to hack into games and steal virtual possessions
to resell. Suicide may also result to a stolen virtual or digital possession.
2. Reembodiment

This is characterized as the “breakout of the visual” online, leading to a new

“constructions” and definitions of the self in the virtual world where online games,
blogs, web pages, photo and video-sharing sites, internet dating sites are possible;
we are disembodied and reembodied as avatars, sharing identity with the chosen
avatar virtually. Online, the plain represent themselves as glamorous, the old as
young, and young as older. In some cases, even virtual sex, marriage and divorce
are made possible. Virtual participants may also have multiple characters, increasing
one’s anonymity. the self is now extended into avatars, which can affect our offline
behaviour and our sense of self, from a more private to public presentation of self
which is now co-constructed that can help affirm or modify our sense of self. It is
highly recommended that we set boundaries to our online self.

3. Sharing

Uploading, downloading, sharing, etc. provide free access of information through

web surfing. In Facebook, social media friends know more than the immediate
families about our daily activities, connections, and thoughts. Diaries that were once
private or shared only with close friends are now posted as blogs for everyone to
read. There is loss of control due to sharing – uncontrolled sharing of information by
online participants or friends; restrictions are not observed.

4. Co- construction of Self

Our digital involvement is social in nature. Our blogs invite comments, social
interaction which help in constructing our individual and joint extended sense of self
as the new version of Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self Theory” known as the
 collaborative self. Seeking affirmation is obviously identified. Friends also help to co-
construct and reaffirm each other’s sense of self through their postings, tagging and
comments.

5. Distributed Memory

In a digital world, there is a new set of devices and technologies for recording
and archiving our memories. The dilemma is seen in the narrative of the self. Our
identity is not to be found in behaviour nor in the reactions of others, but in the
capacity to keep a particular narrative going, done by continually integrating events
in the outside world into our ongoing story about the self. Photos posted in the online
world may not be accurate in giving memories of the past since the photos, blogs,
etc. may just be selected representations of happy times hence, may not be
sufficient to tell our stories.

Boundaries of the Online Self

Adolescents’ online interactions are both a literal and a metaphoric screen for
representing major adolescent developmental issues, such as sexuality and identity.
Because of the public nature of internet chat rooms, they provide an open window into
the expression of adolescent concerns.

Setting boundaries to your online self:

a. Stick to safer sites.

b. Guard your passwords.
c. Be choosy about your online friends.
d. Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is there forever, even if
you try to delete it.
e. Don’t be mean or embarrass other people online.
f. Limit what you share.

Research states that there are more gender-related similarities in establishing an

online self and blog use and that the online self is a good venue for gender expression
and sexuality. This is because in one’s online identity, there is no physical embodiment
of gender or other physical markers of identity. Age and sex are the primary categories
to which people are assigned but in online identity, these are not evident and non-
explicit. Yet extra care with full sense of accountability must be observed in the use of
the social media to protect the self.