Identity And Social Identity

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Self-worth and confidence can be extremely important in preserving happiness and a feeling of accomplishment. Confidence is a significant element in the progression of success. Castells et al. stated that identity is a person’s basis of purpose and understanding of experience. He further emphasized that humans enter the world and develop an identity in regards to their gender, race, societal status, etc. This identity progresses and grows through the social interactions within a specific environment. (1) Social interactions may be referred to as an allowance among individuals within a specific framework to express particular facets of their identity. This interaction regularly takes place without thought; individuals comfortably reveal appropriate characteristics while evaluating what communication is being exchanged (1). Bezzi et al stated that identity is fluid and will change over time, but identity will never diminish. (2) Equally, Goffman’s theory stated that in the company of others, one will highlight specific aspects of their identity based on the importance of the context and situation they are in. (3) Accordingly, youth will view their identity as something that can be changed in reaction to both interior and exterior valuation. (4)
Profile creation is a deliberate presentation of describing oneself in a virtual online format wherein members regulate how they represent their identity in regards to various individuals they may interact with in the online environment. (4) These profiles are often represented on social network sites (SNS) namely: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube etc. In addition to self-presentation, profiles in social networking sites are used in order to engage in conversation ...

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... teenager stay in touch and build a sense of comradeship with friends and family. A young person will be able to establish new friendships, while sharing and exchanging ideas. Social networking sites allow the user to develop a more profound view of their self, their community and a greater understanding of incidents that occur in the world. (9)
O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson state that the lack of regulation in regards to social media use among young people can cause an increase in: limited self-regulation; vulnerability to peer pressure in online as well as offline behaviors; sexual experimentation and sexting; cyber-bullying; privacy issues and internet addiction and sleep deprivation. (9) Obviously the negative impacts of social networking sites on youth can be more severe, and leads to the question of do the risks of social media site use outweigh the benefits?

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