Module 6

THE DIGITAL SELF

PIP

** ** **

"Social media is changing the way we communicate and the

both positively and way we are
perceived,
negatively. Every time you post a photo, or
update your status,
you are
contributing to your own digital footprint and
personal brand."
Amy Jo Martin
*****

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this module, you will be able to:
know and understand what is
digital footprint;
learn how to enhance your social media
footprint; and reputation by having a positive
digital
share your social media
your personal lives.
experience and the discuss the effects of
social media on
 n the world of social media, perception is everything. We aall have an ideal
hose who
sels leal self
We all wish to exaggerate our careers, our profession, and dream to be like those who
we find most successful. As the use of social media continues to evolve; the concept of concept of
presenting our ideal selves versus our real selves has become more and more prevalens
evalent
on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest,
and even LinkedlIn.
nterest,
Research suggests that your "real self" is what you are - your characteristics, your

attributes and your personality. Your "ideal self" is what you feel you should be; much
O t due to environmental and social influences. From a societal standpoint,
many of
us are driven by achievement, and status; hence, the creation
competition and
portrayal of our ideal selves.
*****************

On social media sites, we consider

our profiles to be presentations of
who The real and ideal selves
we are.

f& intersect through interaction with the

in social medium; and the ideal self is at

least partially actualized. In
essence,
our online selves
represent our ideals
and eliminate many of our other real
components.
The different social media
platforms being
used by people around the world
Are we
presenting a
hyper-idealistic
version of ourselves or are we really
been argued that the social media effect
presenting who we are
or are? It has
creates false sense of self
a
through the use of fans, and self-esteem
likes, comments, posts, etc. For a lot of
the likes and fans is an
social media users,
facebook reason
esteem booster; that is one
Music Group why so
many people spend so much time
on social media. It
with a false sense of provides many individuals
self and an
who they inflated sense ot
really
are.

DIGITALNATIVES AND DIGITAL

P H O T O

BOMB
IMMIGRANTS
Digital
natives are those
1980, who have who were born after
access and
skills to use
technologies especially social digital
natives lives most media.
media. Digital
of their
lives
Digita
distinguishing
Digital between online online, withou
Photo used with permission from the natives are and offline.
and
offline
facebook page of Krista Manjares have plenty of constantly connected.
friends, The
in real
74 Understanding the Self space and in tne
 virtual world and a growing collection of friends they keep in their social network
sites (Palfrey and Gasser, 2011). Students today are all "native speakers" of the digital
language of computers, vide0 games and the Internet (Prensky, 2001).
Those people were born prior to 1980; who were not born into the digital world but
have, at some later point in our lives, become amazed by and adopted many or most
aspects of the new technology are called Digital Immigrants. They don't accept their
students can learn successfully while listening to music or watching TV, because the
digital immigrants can't. Digital Immigrant teachers think that students or learners
are the same as when they were students and that similar teaching methods of their
teachers will work for their students now. (Prensky, 2001).

DIGITAL IDENTITY
Digital identity has a number of
different definitions in the literature.
It can refer to the usernames and
digital footprint that individuals
choose and leave behind after using
the Internet for different purposes
such as banking or
purchasing
goods. For others it represents the
identity that a user asumes when
involved in a define environment,
such as playing games.
Digital identity is formed by personal profiles, cultural capital and records-such
as videos on YouTube. Paraphrasing the famous quote by Rene Descartes (I think
therefore I am') by creating a social media update, one may say: 'I am linked therefore
I am. From this we infer that digital identity is created by interacting between
individuals. The digital realm indeed gives us the power to 'determine how we are
defined within the socio-cultural sphere'. While individuals are the product of their
unique personal biography they are not entirely free to choose who they are because
of social situations and interactions.
Digital identity, particularly on social media is "a conscious construction, it can
evolve subconsciously over a period of time, or it could simply be a reflection of the user
in real life." Consequently it may be inferred that 'the selves we re-create on Facebook
are inevitably part us - re-creating ourselves in digital form - and, again to one extent

of another, part who we'd like to be - the creation of something new, perhaps better,

but ultimately "other." They contend that the virtual self can be at odds with reality
and because of this, individuals can see their digital selves as 'superficial, artificial or
even fraudulent'. They go on to state that 'it is worryingly difficult to find the person
in among all the digital artifice. This is called self-regulated self-presentation.

Understanding the Self 75

 DIGITAL FOOTPRINT shadow refers to
or digital
Digital footprint activitiess,
one's unique set of traceable digital
contributions and
communications that
actions,
on the Internet or on digital
are manifested

devices (Webopedia, 2017).

the beach, you leave
you walk
on
Toolpic When
look over your
footprints in the sand. If you
shoulder as you can see
walk, steps you've the
you
takes a walk on that
taken. And if someone else
can see your trail
of footprints.
same beach, they
You

in show where you've walked.

too. Your footprints
You also leave a trail whenever you go online.
Every search you make, website you visit, and
photo you upload adds to this digital trail. The
evidence of your online activity is called your digital footprint (Lindeen, 2017).
Today's children and adolescents are some of the heaviest users of online tools
and social media, these are our young students, who are growing up as a Facebook
and YouTube generation. They are the visual learners and visual attention seekers and
the reality is that many teens unconcerned about the of sharing
are
dangers personal
information online.

surprisingly large percentage of people have never even heard the phrase digital
A

footprint, let alone thought about how to manage theirs responsibly.

the percentage is probably higher. There are
Among students,
ways where we can help you understand
and manage your digital
footprints betfore you get in trouble. Simply
put, a digital
footprint is the record or trail left by the things you do online. Your
and Instagram and other social media Facebook, twitter
activity, the information and content on
your personal website, the website that
you've visited as reflected in
history, your online subscriptions, any photo your browsing
galleries and videos you've uploaded
essentially, anything on the Internet with your name on it.
It is difficult, if not
impossible, to exist in
today's society without
traces. Online click data, credit card
such as status updates, transactions, emails, and social leaving digital
photos, and media content
wide messages are all collected and
variety of places, under the control of maintained in a
a wide
indefinite periods of time
(Haimson, 2016). variety of entities, and stored for
positive digital foot print can enhance a
A
nrofile showcasing a person's academic person's reputation. A
of her or his life, focusing the achievements can serve as favorable online
rson's academic digital individual's drive, a virtual
résume
footprint intellect, and
presentations of personality. A young
can include
ac
photos of winning the science
lair, a Youlube
video of
educational interests
76+ Understanding the Self
participation in extra
curricular activities, like the scoring of a goal at the soccer
of volunteer work, like helping at a
championship; or displays
nursing home. All of the information that appears
in an academic digital footprint should give a good impression to anyone who is
involved in a student's academic career, whether it be a teacher, coach, possible
employer, college recruiter or college admissions officer, or someone considering the
student for an internship or volunteer opportunity. Learning about the tools to use
to showcase your academic talents online is crucial. The process is multi-staged and
can take months, if not years, to accomplish. Once enhanced, your academic digital
footprint must be continuously maintained. As technology advances and the Web
expands, your academic digital life and its digital tracks will grow, too, just like your
personal reputation.

Passive and Active Digital Footprint

Google
What does YOUR digitai footprint say about you?

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There are two main classifications for digital footprints: passive and active.
A passive digital footprint is created when data is collected without the owner
released
knowing, whereas active digital footprints are created when personal data is
deliberately by a user for the purpose of sharing information about oneself by
means

of websites or social media (Madden, Fox, Smith, 8 Vitak, 2007).

Passive digital footprints can be stored in many ways depending on the situation.

may be stored in an online data base as a "hit."

In an online environment a footprint
This footprint may track the user IP address, when it was created, and where they
environment, offline
from; with the footprint later being analyzed. In an
a
came
accessed by administrators to view the
footprint may be stored in files, which can be
actions performed on the machine, without being able to see
who performed them
(Madden, Fox, Smith, & Vitak, 2007).
depending on the
Active digital footprints can also be stored in many ways
situation. In an online environment, a footprint can be stored by a user being logged
into a site when making a post or change, with the registered name being connected
to the edit. In an off line environment a footprint may be stored in files, when the
the actions performed on the
owner of the computer uses a keylogger, so logs can show
of the features of keylogger is to monitor the
machine, and who performed them. One
be problematic as the user may copy passwords
clipboard for any changes. This may
or take screenshots
of sensitive information which will then be logged (Madden, Fox,

Smith, & Vitak, 2007).

Understanding the Self 77
Impression Management
Impression management is a conscious or subconscious
process in which people attempt
to influence the
perceptions of other people about themselves, another
person, object or event. It is done by regulating and
controlling information in social interaction. It was first
conceptualized by Erving Goffman a Canadian-American
sociologist and writer in 1959, and this was expanded upon
in 1967. An example of impression management theory
in play is in sports such as basketball. At an important
game, a player would want to showcase themselves in
the best light possible, because there are sports recruiters
watching. This person would try and perform their best
to show off their skills. Their main goal may be to impress
Photo used with permission the recruiters in a way that maximizes their chances of
from the facebook page of being chosen for a college team rather than winning the
Dave Garcia
game. The same concept is true in digital creation and
presentation of the self.
Just as our analog
notion of self (flesh and blood) consists of RNA and
DNA,
our digital sequence-let us call it the "Digital Self"-consists of code. Each day, we
are creating massive and permanent data trails that contain essential
attributes of
encoding, decoding, and expressions of our genes (or self). We do this
both
and explicitly, and consciously
subconsciously and indirectly.
Implications of the Creation of Digital Self
In an article published in 2012
in Forbes Magazine, it was posited
GOD
that women are now more active

than men acros major social media

platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest

and Facebook and have a stronger

attachment to social networking than

do men. This led to the question if
such engagement leads to negative

effects to their psyche. Newsweek also

featured mounting evidence
recently
that intense Internet usage contributes to increased anxiety and depression and even
psychosis. These findings and observations indicates that although the things posted
or the presented digital self, does not necessarily
show the real self
on social media,
of the individual.
to the
The digital self, as presented in social media, also places the people open
small-scale private performances that
are
voyeuristic gaze of others in uncountable
new social
on an often large scale. In this
socially mediated for public consumption
crime and justice, but participates and adds
media reality the public not only follows
crimes.
their own performances, the most noticeable being performance
in the catholicworldreport.com, a website dedicated for the
In an article posted
that even a high ranking bishop was
online dissemination of news, it was reported
The fake áccount includes the bishop in his
vestments as a
a victim of identity theft.
of nuns for the background image. This incident
profile picture and him with a group
shows the vulnerability of the digital self.

Benefits of Social Media Usage

traditional web applications as pages are easy
Facebook and Twitter differ from
have real time
to create and edit; accessible; promote and support mobility;
are easily
communication and are free or cost effective. These benefits encourage the increasing
adoption of these applications.
Social media have the advantage
of being real time applications with
the "always-on data stream." There
that offer in
are many applications
information in real time. For example,

the Whistler resort (home of the 2010

f OO
Winter Olympics) offered snow updates
decisions
via Twitter enabling real-time SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL G00D
activities.
about skiing and snowboarding

Understanding the Self 79

 Twitter posts related to
Sakaki, Matsuo (2010) have investigated the
Okazaki, and
of earthquakes promptly,
earthquakes, which through an algorithm enabled detection
simply by observing the posts.
From this discussion we can see that the case of use and accessibility are key reasons

social media. This is facilitated by the mobility of

the technology and
why people use
therefore the advantages of real time data and availability are emphasized. But with
these benefits come problems and issues around the ease of access such as reliability

of data.

Digital Over Physical

A digital identity has the potential to live forever where in the physical world
we are faced with death. Traditionally genetic codes are passed on to offspring and
offer a family history that lives forever, or through a lineage. An online identity is
remembered for how it interacted in a particular time in a digital environ ment. The
difference is an online identity may remain dormant for decades and still have the
potential to influence, inspire, and generate new concepts or thoughts. This tends not
to happen decades after the death of a person in the physical world. Facebook has a
helpful guide as part of their support features that discusses the various components
to amemorialized Facebook account. A
legacy account member can be appointed and
decisions made about what should
happen to a Facebook profile by a user before they
actually pass away.
As digital identities continue to integrate with our physical lives, and through
advancements in human
computer synthesis, humanity will be faced with interesting
questions about the definition being human. The difference between
humans and
machines will become harder to
distinguish, since a user of a
digital profile could
become emotionally connected to virtual
a environment.
Interactions on social media platforms are
As this device has become the
becoming ubiquitous with smartphones.
object that stays close to the physical self all
night, it should be considered through the lens of the day and
most
apparent aspect of humanness is in
Uncanny Valley. The first and
appearance. can mean just the
It
the face, or just the
eyes. It can vary from body, just
human." Smartphones are the vaguely human to
from indistinguishable
portals for our physical selves and our
interact, and have been designed in
ways that are similar to how
digital selves to
orcur in the
physical world. human interactions
As
technologies and artificial intelligence continue to
remember the psychological develop, it is important to
to imitate human life
impacts humans experience when something attempts
or behavior.
Three quarters (75%) of teèns and 93% of
ages 18 to 29 now have a cell adults
phone.
In the past five
years, cell phone
become mainstream among even the
own a cell youngest teens. Fully 58% of 12 has ownership
phone. It is critical to
analyze the year olds now
community, has on a developing mind impact a digital identity, in a
in the
physical world (Haimson, 2016). digital
80
Understanding the Self