DIGITAL

SELF
What Statistics Say
According to the article of Medinilla (2016). The
Philippines is the fastest growing market of
smartphones in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) based on the report of a market
research company. International Data Corporation
(IDC). Another report indicate about 3.5 million
smartphones were shipped to the country during
first quarter of 2016.

Statistics Western countries showed that in 2012,

78% of online teens owns a cellphone, 8 out of 10
teens own a desktop or laptop, 23% have tablet
95% of them have access to internet as reported by Pew (2014).
(http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-
technology-2015/pi_2015-04-09_teensandtech_06/).

SELF AND OTHER IN CYBERSPACE

Digital Literacy
is defined as those capabilities possessed by individuals
who are living, learning and working in a digital space. In the
real world, authority and status may be expressed by clothing
and body language. In virtual interactions, these markers are
stripped. In cyberspace, people are now willing to speak out
and misbehave without fear of dissaproval and punishment
Afrom authority figures. Adolescent who speak out may
believe that they come from a position of authority just
like others due to linkages and easy access of
communication. In cyberspace, authority is minimized.

"People feel more relaxed, less restrained and tend to

express themselves more openly . This phenomenon is
known as online disinhibition." -Suler (2014) .

Online disinhibition is the lack of restraint one feel

when communication online in comparison to
communicating in person. This could have both positive
and negative effects. In positive light,users can exhibit
charity.

TWO CATEGORIES OF ONLINE

DISINHIBITION
Benign Disinhibition
Not all desintibition is a bad thing. Sometimes
people share very personal thing about
themselves. It could be a cathartic experience
which gives oppurtunity to reveal secrets
emotions, fears and wishes. They show unusual act
of kinedness and generosity, sometimes going out
to understand and explore oneself, to work through
problems, and find new ways of being. People can be
extremely generous and kind to others in the virtual
world. Example donating for a cause or buying
something for a cause ( to be donated to those in
need) .

Another benign disinhibition is to combat loneliness and

depression through online interaction. Social interaction
may moderate negative moods (Morahan Martin and
Schumacher, 2003). Online dehintibition can also
enhance self esteem and self confidence.Using the
internet could be an avenue to find satisfying
relationships to provide emotional support.(Valkenburg
are more comportable with online interactions (Johnson,

2004).

Toxic Disinhibition
Disinhibition can also be ugly. People have witnessed
rude language, harsh criticism, anger, hatred, even threats
online.
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using
electronic technology.
Cyberharassment is the use of information and
Communications Tech (ICT) to harass, control,
manipulate or habitually disparage a child, aduld,
group without a direct or implied threat of physical
 Managing Online
Disinhibition
1. Don't post or send anything you would be embarassed
for certain others to see.
2. Do be careful about over-sharing.
3. Don't hang out with the "wrong crowd" online.
4. Do consider your emotional state before virtually
posting or responding to anything.
5. Do consider the reaction individuals are expecting from
toxic disinhibition.
ME, MYSELF AND MY USER ID ONLINE
IDENTITY
The term digital identity (DI) refers to anything that
describes a persona an individual presents across all
the digital spaces that he/she is represented in.
Symbolic markers express one's identity to others and
helps them make sense of themselves. These are the
signals that represent who the person is offline such
as hair, clothes and body modification. On the other
hand, there could be another self-presentation if a
person goes online.

On the internet, people can be whoever they want to

be - Turkle (1995)
User ID lets a person associate a persistent ID for a
single user with that users engagement data from one
or more sessions initiated from one or more devices.
Username is also called login name, logon name, sign-
in name, sign on name which is a unique sequence of
characters used to identify a user and allow access to a
computer system, computer network, or online account.

Consciously or unconciously, people may feel that the

imaginary characters they "created" exist in a different
space, that one's online persona along with the online
others live in a make-believe dimension, separate and
apart from the demands and responsibilities of the real
world. This pertain to dissociative imagination.
Absent face-to-face cues combined with text
communication can alter self-boundaries.
People may feel that their minds have merged
with this mind of the online companion. This
refers to solipsistic itrojection----- A notion
that it's only in their heads or minds.
Dissociative anomity also plays a role for
online users. As the word
"anonymous"indicates, a person can have no
name or at least not the real name. In virtual
interactions, people can hide some of all their
identities which separate the in-person
SELF-PRESENTATION STRATEGIES AND
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

1. Self-Promotion. The person who is using self-

promotion is trying to show that he/she is competent,
effective or a winner.
2. Ingration. The person using ingration in
presenting oneself to others has a desire to be
likeable.
3. Exemplification. The perdon who is using
exemplification has an atention to achieve worth
from others.
4. Intimidiation. The person who is using
 IMPACT OF ONLINE
INTERACTIONS ON THE SELF
The development of the person's social
aspects can be greatly influenced by
technology due to an insufficient amount
of real life social encounters (Diaz, Evans
and Gallagher, 2014) Although online
encounters are easy and more convenient
than real life encounters, facial
expression, body language, eye contact
Based on analysis of teenagers online
experience, studies showed 'others' on
the internet constitute a distinctive
"looking glass" that produces a "digital
self"that differ from the self form offline.
While online a persons status in the face-
to-face world may not be
 known to others and may not have that much of
an impact.
Abuse of technology always leads to negative
consequences. Even if there are cases when social
media negatively impacts users, it would be unfair
if only the technology would be blamed
BOUNDARIES OF THE SELF ONLINE
Personal boundaries are the set of guidelines, rules or
limits that a person creates to identify reasonable, safe
and permission ways for people to behave towards them
and how they respond in case someone breaks these
rules or overstep the limits.
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC

In many environments people cannot see others.

Nobody can judge the statements and image
because of the cloak of invisibility. In the public
mode, the post will be created as open book.
Because of security, many online users are using
the private mood. Invisibility is also gauge to
mistepresent oneself. A man may represent
himself as a woman and vice versa which cannot
be done in face-to-face interaction.
 PERSONAL /INDIVIDUAL VS.
SOCIAL IDENTITY ONLINE
Identity is made up of both personal identity
and social identity. Social Identity is usually
based on group affliation. In the modern era
identity is described as fixed,stable and
unitary. In post modern period (now) identity
is considered as fluid multiple and socially
constructed. Sherry Turkle pointed out that
people have different roles in different
In sociology, identity theory, (Stryker,
1980) explained that individuals have "role
identities" It is the role an individual
devises as an occupant of a particular
social position.
"Self" is hierarchical ordering of identities by salience.

GENDER AND SEXUALITY ONLINE

A special concern is that boys raised in a

traditional manner are socialized to conceal
their emotion. Gender intensification
hypothesis states that psychological and
behavioural.differences between boys and
girls become greater during early adolescent
because of increased socialization pressure
feminine gender role (Santrock,2014)

In the study entitled , Gender Streotype in

Facebook Profiles More Female Online?, the
result that women do so more than males.

A study entitled, Gender, Identity, and

Language Use in Teenage Boys ny Huffaker
and Calvert (2005) revealed that male and
female teenage presented themselves
personal information such as their real name,
aged and locations. Males more so than
females used emoticons, employed an active
and resolute style of language, and were more
likely to present themselves as a gay.

Sex is explicit portrayed in movies, Tv shows,

videos, lyrics of popular music, MTV and
internet sites. Accoding to Hannesy (2009),
adolescents, not unlike adults, like to watch
television program with sexual content.
watching television sex can influence
adolescents sexual attitude and behavior.
Researcher have shown that exposure to
sexual content is related to more permissive
studies about premarital and recreational sex (
Hewstone, et al, 2015).