Online? Offline? Who Am I?
The Internet allows me to say what I’m thinking, verses in person when I’m not going to say that… It’s all my thoughts uncensored basically
Digital Identity. Asking users, who am I with and without the internet? Let’s be honest, the internet is here to stay, and with it comes how we portray ourselves online. During this first part of Episode 1, we discussed how much digital identity affects people regarding their experiences and how they shape their online identities.
Throughout this part, we explore the complexities of Identity. Starting with my guest placing themselves on the Likert Scale (a scale that measures 1-5 where you place yourself regarding any issue) with their social media usage. This question was important to this interview because it started as a basis for where they were going to answer the questions.
“What would you say your social media usage would be on a scale from 1 (being rare, and not often) to 5 (being a lot and like every minute?)“
“I don’t post anything, but every free second I have I’m on YouTube Shorts, or Instagram or TikTok“
Lance
With 4/5 of my guests placing themselves as a 4. It got my gears turning. Emma mentioned her being Generation Z, and how that probably had something to do with their exposure to growing up with the easy-to-access internet.
Yet, these answers piqued my interest in how that level of exposure could lead to their online presence. And how they shape their identities into whatever they want via, a username.
“Is your username your name, a nickname, or something else? Why?”
“It’s a variation of my name. I came up with it when I was a teen, pre-teen and I’ve just stuck with it.“
Sammy
After questioning them about their usernames, I realized that they all treated them differently. Emma chose her username to be the least like her name in real life. Using a phrase and an unidentifiable photo to through people off of knowing it is her account. Lance chose to use a combination of her name in all of her usernames, keeping it tightly linked to her. While both Mikky and Sammy have their nicknames laced into their usernames in a way where it can be linked to them. DK is the most different with wanting to make up a username different from himself to keep his anonymity while online. Not only that, but he found the idea of creating a username that is completely unlinked from him to be more fun.
After hearing that, I took a deep dive into the phenomenon, finding the article, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Virtual Community Discourse and the Dilemma of Modernity. It covers the way people address identity through “computer-mediated” means saying…
“Taking advantage of the fact that identity in computer-mediated communication environments can be hidden or manipulated, social actors can explore and express unknown facets of their personalities. In the process, emotional involvement can be deepened, and expressive abilities and personal freedom enlarged.”
Sorin Matei, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Virtual Community Discourse and the Dilemma of Modernity
This quote is a bit hard to understand. However, we can simplify it as people are expressing themselves behind the screen, and they are changing their perception of themselves and their lives.
With that in mind, I specifically could not get what DK said about his online persona. Leading me to find the phrases Anonymity (anonymous one) and Pseudonymity (the use of a different name from your real name). These both were extremely important to what the guest was saying regarding their online identities. I found some research on this occurrence in the article, Anonymity, Pseudonymity, and the agency of online identity. In this research, they go over the use of anonymity on social media, like Reddit compared to the use of real names on other sites like Facebook.
“The option of not using real names online allows people to control what they reveal about themselves and who they reveal it to, opening up possibilities for identity exploration, exhibitionism, and connections with people who share different interests without being limited by the social factors that routinely shape everyday life.“
Emily Nagel and Jordan Frith, Anonymity, Pseudonymity and the agency of online identity
This type of research was vital to my interviews because these are the types of connections I found with my guests. But this part did not stop there. I asked them an important question that drove me to find answers to their identity.
“Would you consider your face-to-face identity different then what you portray online?”
“The Internet allows me to say what I’m thinking, verses in person when I’m not going to say that… It’s all my thoughts uncensored basically”
Emma
Their answers were extremely reflective of the research I did regarding identity, and everyone had a different answer with how they handled their online identity compared to their in-person one. Sammy’s is similar to his one in person, yet with his boundaries in place and his experience in Digital Literacy. Then Emma, who can openly express her concerns online for things she doesn’t feel comfortable doing in real life, becomes uncensored. While Lance feels as if she did create and post more content, she would be her authentic self in the day and age where it is praised. And then you have Mikky, who is trying to allow more of her real life to seep into her digital world. Then finally, DK who would instead of letting his online identity shape him, would rather shape his online identity to be a mirror image of himself.
Let’s remember, as we navigate the digital realm, our identities unfold in myriad ways, painting a vivid portrait of who we are and who we aspire to be.
Join us for part 2 where we go more into how cyberculture shapes an online experience, and learn the ways that it is virtually impossible to live without the influences of the internet.