Deconstruction and Multiplicity of Self through Modern Technology

Deconstruction and Multiplicity of Self through Modern Technology

The Internet has allowed a postmodern view of self to dominate and serve as the solution to a dilemma that modernism has perpetuated surrounding self perception. Such a dilemma includes the identity crisis. Having only one self is restricting and can be dangerous, especially if the self is viewed as “bad” by the individual/self or others. It becomes critical, in the modernist view of self, to like oneself or else one will have to either self-hate or self-destruct. Self destruction would mean to kill off or eliminate the self-defining characteristics that one dislikes. My Mother always told me: “It’s never to late to be who you really are”. This advice functions to encourage combat against negative self-image that modernism cultivates. For some, this process is like clearing the slate. Starting from scratch will hopefully be refreshing to one’s self-esteem and self-value, but starting over as the “new you” can be a difficult and scary adjustment as well. For the same reasons, labels and stereotypes control and shape one’s identity. The postmodern, technological world loosens the powerful grip of modernism’s resulting restrictions on selfhood.

Modernism promotes an either-or option for self being one thing or another (and, hopefully, that dichotomy is not the dangerous good-bad ultimatum). On the other hand, postmodernism allows for fluidity and does not condemn or pollute the entire self with one portion of self-identity. Additionally, the worry about a “new you’s" role in society will never arise as the “new you” is just “another you” in a postmodern self concept. No one has one true self nor control over others’ perceptions of one’s selves. Therefore, one must come to terms with the fragmented, multiplicities of their own identity. Their self exists in the here-and-now, and is much less definable in simple categories. While others, then, cannot grasp and categorize your identity, the possibility exists, that neither can the self which is you. This presents a freeing and frustrating capacity for any individual worried about control. The postmodern, technology-age self is not contained. It is a limitless region abounding with environment-sensitive traits. We can imagine such a concept through the unlimited Internet—in the vast expanse called cyberspace. Viewing ourselves through, or actually as composed like, a machine unlocks such infinite possibilities in identity.