Over the last 15 years or so, our world was revolutionized with the use of social media. According the data collected by Camscore in 2011 about 90% of all Americans visit a social media website every month. The cyberspace presents us various mediums in which we present ourselves. These mediums include social networking, dating sites, online games, virtual reality worlds, and even commenting sections of publication websites. In most of these mediums, others know you based only on the information that you put out there, whether it be your opinion about an article, a picture you share, a status update on a social networking website, or even the character you create in a massively multiplayer online game (MMO). A question rises based on this. How do you present yourself to others in these online mediums?
The self-discrepancy theory developed by Edward Higgins states that people have three basic domains of the self: actual, ideal, and ought. Each self can also vary based on its standpoint. The theory describes two different vantage points: own and other. The actual self represents the traits and characteristics that you possess and express in a social environment. The actual self can vary between what you picture yourself as, own viewpoint, and what others close to you picture you as, other viewpoint. Then there is the ideal self, which represents the characteristics and traits you desire, or others wish for you to have. The ought self is the representation of all the attributes you or others believe you should have, such as sense of duty and responsibilities. The ought self can either converge or diverge from the ideal self, depending on the person. There many other theories that develop further selves for various situations such as s...
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...e lowering of self-esteem and generation of deception.
To get out of the loop previously mentioned, one must stop comparing himself to others. As well as staying authentic, by not creating a hyper-realistic version of the actual self. Getting positive feedback on the actual self will be more rewarding because of its authenticity, which can be a great self-esteem booster. Another self-esteem booster, based on the research, is convergence of actual and ideal self. This means that by having more realistic (Ideal self) goals (Ideal Self) one will be more between the two selves, therefore will be closer to his goals and the goals will be more achievable. In the end, as shown in the online dating study, by having an social network profile, online game character, or and dating profile closer to the actual self (offline self), offline relations will be positively affected.
What does sense of self-mean? It means what that person sees when they look in a mirror. Whether it is a decent, awful or an indifferent image. Everyone’s self-image is different, and that’s acceptable; normal even. No one person is exactly the same. The authors explain how a sense of self is like internal conflicts and the decision to lie in order to gain approval.
In our age of endless involvement in social media, we often see that people know online aren’t what they seem. Some social media users don’t know that same people we follow or are friends with on Facebook are controlling the way they are being perceived by other users. It’s a new social phenomenon born online and isn’t taken noticed by the everyday users, but there had been movies and stories about it. The topic of identity on social media is being bought up more often in the worldwide conversion about what social media means to us. In the essay “Impression Management on Facebook and Twitter” by Annalise Sigona seeks to inform readers and social media users about the unknowns about the impression and the way user present themselves in social media. When reading this essay, I was introduced to new term, and something I had vague understanding for.
Higgins, Tory. “Self-Discrepancy Theory: What Patterns of Self-Beliefs Cause People to Suffer?”(1989). Advances in Experimental Social psychology, Vol.22 (1989):93-136. Academic Press Inc.
Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94, 319-340
Social networking sites have become popular over the years, like twitter, which allows users to present themselves through their tweets using photos, hyperlinks, or hashtags. Boyd (2010) argued that social media platforms like Twitter encourages members to use their actual identities but it does not mean people are presenting themselves online the way they do in real life.
With comments and ‘likes’ quantifying influence and success on social media, aspiring to gain affirmation is built into the platforms. As sites like Facebook and LinkedIn become increasingly integrated in our social and professional lives, differences between our “real” and online identities can shape not only how others perceive us but our self-perceptions, creating pressure to be more like the often-idealized digital versions of ourselves and our peers. In fact, everyone has owned at least one profile online where people share a description of their selves, profile pictures, favorite movies, books, music and even some personal information. We do this for a reason, the reason here is that Facebook, twitter or others social network are the places where we are free to express ourselves, to connect with others and socialize, not feel left out since most of my friends are there, or sometimes for school and social and political activism projects.
The first aspect being addressed is the problem with social network sites exposing information. Social networking has created an environment where it is nearly a duty to expose oneself. Profiles on these social websites are updated everyday with personal information such as locations, status, and future plans. Anyone can search another’s name and find information about their history, pictures, and activity. With the help of social networking sites...
Social media users see other people differently because much of the content posted on social media, which led to exalting users and revealing unnecessary information. When one first logs into a social media site such as Facebook, the first things that ...
Our ideal self is who we wish to be, and the real self is who we are. When there is an imbalance between who we want to be and who we are, a person can develop defense mechanisms to try to alter the real self (McLeod, 2007).
This was evident in a study conducted at New York University (Bargh et al., 2002). In this study, participants were asked to sort a series of self-descriptive adjectives as they related to them; categorizing them as either “me” or “not me”. Following that activity, participants were randomly assigned to a face-to-face condition group or an online condition group where they were matched with partners and instructed to begin interacting. This study found that participants in the Internet condition group were faster to respond to their actual self traits, whereas those in the in-person interaction conditions were not able to sort the aforementioned adjectives at the same rate. This supports the claim that an online interaction leads to the activation of ones true self qualities. Therefore, the Internet gives people the confidence and means to express their true self and behave in positive ways that they normally would not if placed in a face-to-face interaction
Prescott, Anne P.. The concept of self in psychology. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2006. Print.
Social media is used by many people, young and old around the world as a way to communicate. Our lives have become so busy that it is difficult to maintain family and social relationships. “They use social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. On these sites users create profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research and share thoughts, photos, music, links and more” (Social Networking). With the use of social media you can be friends with all sorts of people without actually seeing or knowing them. “In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families” (Cosmato).
One of the main reasons why social media has positively affected our society is because of how it has made communicating with people much easier. “Today, four out of five active internet users maintain at least one social media profile” (Moe, 3). Using these websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and etc., people talk about everything with anyone from what they are planning to do, also what they are eating and much more (Moe, 24). Also we can also send private messages to other users of these websites about personal m...
Self-esteem is critical evaluation of ones self, resulting in negative or positive thoughts about oneself (Decker, 2010; Kaya & Saçkes, 2004). The way an individual see’s themselves is imprortant in regards to how they behave and the daily decisions they make (Hamarta, 2004). With regards to adolelescents, self esteem is of particular importance, influencing every day decisions that can have a life long impact (Person & Year, 2007). Self esteem can be defined on the basis of the way one sees themselves. In this view of self esteem, there must be a reference point with which the individual compares themelves to although the view of themselves may be positive or negative with respect to that particular reference ppoint. In positive self-esteem the individual is satisified with the way he or she is and thus views themselves favorably with respect to that particular reference point. In contrast, in negative self-esteem, the individual fails to meet this ideal point of reference of how they should be externally (Decker, 2010).
Social media is quickly evolving in front of our eyes, and it is almost impossible to reject and hide from this new form of media. Not only is it an important part of socialization within peer groups, but now it is used to market and motivate people to become a part of a larger community. It is undeniably changing the way one communicates and how one finds and shares information. Most websites offer communication through the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and many other blog formats. With new apps on smartphones and photography and video made digital, media can be created, edited and shared quickly and once it is in this new digital cloud it is not yours anymore.