UNIT 5: DIGITAL SELF

“Privacy is not an option, and it shouldn’t be the price we except for just getting on the internet.” -Gary
Kovacs

ONLINE IDENTITY AND THE SELF IN CYBERSPACE

Online Identity constitutes the sum of your characteristics and interactions online.
The different representations of your identity seen and expressed online are also known as your partial
identities. These identities are not full and true pictures of who you really are and do not include how you
react in particular situations.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT AND SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION

In a digital world where one’s self-concept may be greatly influenced by the “likes”, “reacts,” and
“comments” that one gets, people try to express themselves in a manner by which one can elicit positive
reactions from others or one may be perceived as likable. This is what we term impression management.

IMPACT OF ONLINE INTERACTIONS ON THE SELF

• According to Kraut, within the first two years people first accessed the internet, their level of happiness
decreased. The use of digital technology and online interactions seem to replace or limit physical or face-
to-face interactions, thus drawing people away from more genuine encounters and meaningful
connections with others.

The risk of developing poor social skills, internet addictive behaviors, and low self-esteem comes with
prolonged and irresponsible internet use. Last but not least, it is common knowledge that here in the
Philippines, we have the R.A. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) primarily aimed to protect
internet users from several legal offenses committed online or through a computer system like
cyberbullying, cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, illegal access to data, and libel.

EXTENDED SELF IN A DIGITAL WORLD (BELK)

1. Dematerialization: Now that we are in the digital age, formerly tangible things have become
invisible and immaterial.
2. Re-embodiment: As people interact behind their own screens, people are now freer to create new
constructions and definitions of the self.
3. Sharing: Through the internet, people can now easily and freely access and share information,
movies, photos, music, and the like.
 4. Co-construction of the Self: Our online interactions allow us to give and receive comments on the
posts or contents shared by other people, thereby facilitating the construction of our individual
self and our extended self (the self-shared online). This is also known as the “collaborative self”.

SETTING BOUNDARIES FOR YOUR ONLINE SELF

Stick to safer sites. Leave immediately if a website is not secure or appears suspicious.
• Guard your passwords. Avoid using your basic information as your passwords. Strong passwords often
include both UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and special characters.
• Be choosy about your online friends. Avoid adding or accepting as friends/contacts those
individuals whom you do not know personally. Remember that these people will see the things you share.
If you do not trust them with your shared content, decline.
Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is there FOREVER, even
if you try to delete it.
Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
Limit what you share.

UNIT 6: THE SPIRITUAL SELF

The Spiritual Self is said to be the subjective and most intimate dimension of the self. It is
experienced and understood by the person him/herself, and it would be difficult to explain this
experience to others. The Spiritual Self is who we are at our core. The spirit and the soul are
sometimes seen as one and the same.

SPIRITUALITY is said to be a way of seeking and expressing the meaning and purpose of
one’s life. It speaks of the quality of one’s relationships with others and with the Divine.
RELIGION, on the other hand, is the belief in and worship of a personal God or gods. It is a set
of beliefs, feelings, dogmas, and practices that define the relationship between human beings and
the Sacred.

VIKTOR EMIL FRANKL: FINDING AND CREATING MEANING

A pioneer of Existentialism, Frankl stressed that “meaning is something to discover rather than to
invent”. His concept of EXISTENTIAL VACUUM explains how one may find that life is
empty, meaningless, or aimless. Because of this, one may fill his/her life with pleasure, which is
frequently destructive.

WAYS OF DISCOVERING MEANING IN LIFE Frankl proposed three ways of discovering

meaning in life:

1) EXPERIENTIAL VALUES - experiencing something or someone we value; the most

important experiential value could be the love we feel towards others – our family, friends, and
other significant people.
2) ATTITUDINAL VALUES – involves practicing virtues and values such as
compassion, courage, a good sense of humor, humility, etc. For Frankl, the most famous example
is achieving meaning through suffering, where the ultimate goal is self-transcendence.
3) CREATIVE VALUES - becoming involved in projects and the creativity and passion
involved in art, music, writing, and work.

CARL JUNG
• Jung’s concept of the COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS refers to a structural layer of
the human psyche containing inherited elements. It contains the whole spiritual heritage of
mankind’s evolution, born anew in the brain structure of every individual.
• The Collective Unconscious also contains ARCHETYPES. We draw from these
fundamental personalities and roles to develop our unique personality.

THE MOST FAMOUS ARCHETYPES ARE:

1) Anima and Animus

a. • The “anima/animus” is the mirror image of our biological sex, that is, the
unconscious feminine side in males and the masculine tendencies in women.
Each sex manifests the attitudes and behavior of the other by virtue of
centuries of living together. A woman's psyche contains masculine aspects (the
animus archetype), and a man's psyche contains feminine aspects (the anima
archetype).
2) Hero
• The character displays courage and will for self-sacrifice.
 3) Shadow
• This is the animal side of our personality (like the id in Freud). It is the source of
both our creative and destructive energies. In line with evolutionary theory, it may be that
Jung’s archetypes reflect predispositions that once had survival value.
3) Persona
• The persona (or mask) is the outward face we present to the world. It conceals
our real self, and Jung describes it as the “conformity” archetype. This is the public face
or role a person presents to others as someone different from who we really are (like an
actor).
5) Wise Old Man/Woman
• The archetype of meaning and wisdom symbolizes a human being’s pre-existing
knowledge of the mysteries of life; kind and wise and offers guidance.
6) The Good Mother
• This archetype reflects maternal solitude and sympathy, any helpful instinct or
impulse, and all that cherishes and sustains and fosters growth and fertility.

For Jung, man’s goal is to achieve INDIVIDUATION, which involves increasing awareness of
one’s unique psychological reality, including personal strengths and limitations, and at the same
time, a deeper appreciation of humanity in general. It refers to the process through which a
person achieves a sense of individuality separate from the identities of others and begins to exist
as a human in the world consciously. The goal of the individuation process is the synthesis of the
self.