Who I am in

4 TH C O F F E E

the
Cyberworld?
4 TH C O F F E E

Digital Self
 Selective Self-presentation and
Impression Management
• According to Goffman (1959) and Leary (1995), self-
presentation is the “process of controlling how one
is perceived by other people” and is the key to
relationship inception and development.
• Anything posted online should be considered
4 TH C O F F E E

“public” no matter what our “privacy” settings are.

• Personal identity is the interpersonal level of self
whichS Udifferentiates
B T I T L E G the
O E Sindividual
H E R E as unique from
others.
• Social identity is the level of self whereby the
individual is identified by his or her group
memberships.
• Belk (2013) explained that sharing ourselves is no
longer new and has been practiced as soon as
human beings were formed.
 • We have entered an extraordinary era of self-portraiture.
• Blogs and web pages have been continuously used for greater self-reflection
and self-presentation.
4 TH C O F F E E

• “Fear of missing out” is a condition leading to compulsively checking newsfeeds

and continually adding tweets and postings in order to appear active and
interesting.
• Disinhibition effect is the lack of face-to-face gaze-meeting, together with
feelings of anonymity and invisibility, gives people the freedom for self-
disclosure but can also “flame” others and may cause conflict sometimes.
• In Foucault’s view, confessing our secret truths feels freeing, even as it binds us
in a guilt-motivated self-governance born of a long history of Christian pre-
Christian philosophies and power structures.
 Gender and Sexuality Online
• According to Marwick (2013) while the term
“sex”, “gender” and “sexuality” are often thought
of as synonymous, they are actually quite distinct.
4 TH C O F F E E

• Sex is the biological state that corresponds to

what we might call “man” or a “woman”. This
might seem to be simple distinction but the
biology of sex is actually complicated.
 • Gender is the social understanding of how sex should be experienced and
how sex manifests in behavior, personality, preferences, capabilities, and so
forth.
• While sex and gender are presumed to be biologically connected, we can
understand gender as a socioculturally specific set of norms that are
4 TH C O F F E E

mapped onto a category of “sex” (Kessler and Mckenna 1978; Lorber 1994).
• Gender is historical, it is produced by media and popular culture (Gauntlett
2008; van Zoonen 1994). It is taught by families, schools, peer groups, and
nation states (Goffman 1977). It is reinforced through songs, sayings,
admonition, slang, language, fashion and discourse ( Cameron 1998;
Cameron and Kulick 2003) and it is deeply ingrained.
• Gender is a system of classification that values male-gendered things more
than female related things.
 • Given this inequality, the universalized male body and experience is often
constructed as average or normal, while female-gendered experiences are
conceptualized as variations from norm (Goffman 1977).
4 TH C O F F E E

• Sexuality is an individual expression and understanding of desire. While like

gender, this is often viewed as binary (homosexual or heterosexual), in
reality, sexuality is often experienced as fluid.
 Performing Gender
Online
Theorist Judith Butler (1990)
conceptualized gender as a
performance. She explained that
popular understandings of gender and
sexuality came to be through
4 TH C O F F E E

discourse and social processes. She

argued that gender was performative,
in that it is produced through millions
of individual actions, rather than
something that comes naturally to
men and women. Performances that
adhere to normative understandings
of gender and sexuality are allowed,
while those that do not are
admonished (for example, a boy
“throwing like a girl”)(Lorber 1994).
 • Internet users are free to actively choose which gender or sexuality they
are going to portray with the possibility of creating alternate identities
(Wynn and Katz). The ability of users to self-consciously adopt and play
with different gender identities would reveal the choices involved in the
4 TH C O F F E E

production of gender, breaking down binaries and encouraging fluidity in

sexuality and gender expression.
• Recently, social media has been celebrated for facilitating greater cultural
participation and creativity. Social media sites like Twitter and YouTube
have led to the emergence of a “free culture” where individuals are
empowered to engage in cultural production using raw materials, ranging
from homemade videos to mainstream television characters to create
new culture, memes and humor. At its best, this culture of memes, mash-
ups, and creative political activism allows for civic engagement and fun
creative acts.
 • Recently, social media has been celebrated for facilitating greater cultural
participation and creativity. Social media sites like Twitter and YouTube have led
to the emergence of a “free culture” where individuals are empowered to
engage in cultural production using raw materials, ranging from homemade
videos to mainstream television characters to create new culture, memes and
humor. At its best, this culture of memes, mash-ups, and creative political
activism allows for civic engagement and fun creative acts.
4 TH C O F F E E

• While Digg, 4chan and Reddit are used mostly by men, most social network site
users are women; this is true in Facebook, Flickr, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Twitter,
and YouTube. But mere equality of use does not indicate equality of
participation. While both men and women use Wikipedia, 87% of Wikipedia
contributors were identified as male. Male students are more likely to create,
edit and distribute digital video over YouTube or Facebook than female
students.

• Although the technologies are the same, the norms and mores of the people
using them differ.
 Setting Boundaries to Your Online Self: Smart Sharing
• Before posting or sharing anything online, consider the following:
• Is this post/necessary?
• Is there a real benefit to this post? Is it funny, warm-hearted, teachable-or am I
4 TH C O F F E E

just making noise online without purpose?

• Have we (as a family or parent/child) resolved this issue? An issue that is still
being worked out at home, or one that is either vulnerable or highly
emotional, should not be made public.
• Is it appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries of our family values?
• Will this seem as funny in 5, 10, or 15 years? Or is this post better suited for
sharing with a small group of family members? Or maybe not at all?
 • Rules to Follow
• Stick to your safer sites.
• Guard your passwords.
4 TH C O F F E E

• Limit what you share.

• 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.
• Always tell if you see strange or bad behavior online.
• Be patient.
• Be choosy about your online friends.
4 TH C O F F E E

THANK
YOU!!!
 P r i m a
4 TH C O F F E E

S e v i l l a
K i e r u l f