The Digital Self
Our self-concept consists of schemas that relate to how we view ourselves. These
schemas are formed based on our personal experiences and from our interactions with
others.
An aspect of the self that we present online is our digital self. Unlike our real self
that develops organically in the natural environment, our digital self is deliberately
constructed by the individual. Our real self greatly benefits from direct interactions with
others, while our digital self interacts with others from a distance in a disembodied
environment (Zhao, 2005).
These days, more people ate becoming active in using the internet for research,
pleasure, business, communication, and other purposes. Indeed, the internet is a great
help for everyone. On the other hand, people assume different identities while in the
cyberspace. People act differently when they are online and offline. We have our real
identity and online identity.
Abstraction
The number of people becoming more active online continues to increase
worldwide. More than half of the population worldwide now uses the Internet. It has
only been 25 years since Tim Berners-Lee made the World Wide Web available to the
public, but in that time, the Internet has already become an integral part of everyday life
for most of the world’s population. The Philippines is among one of the countries with
the most active Internet users. (We are Social and Hootsuite n.d.)
Almost two-thirds of the world’s population now has a mobile phone.
More than half of the world’s web traffic now comes from mobile phone.
More than half of all mobile connections around the world are now “broadband.”
More than one in five of the world’s population shop online in the past 30 days.
Media users in the Philippines grew by 12 million or 25% well the number of
mobile actual users increased by 30 million or 32%. Does growth figures are still higher
compared to the previous year. More than half of the world now uses a smartphone.
A. Selective Self-Presentation and Impression Management
Self-Presentation
The processes individuals use control the impressions of others social
interaction.
According to Goffman (1959) and Leary (1995), self-presentation is the “process
of controlling how one is person by the other people” and is the key to relationship
inception of the development. To construct positive images, individuals selectively
provide information about them and prayerfully cater this information in response to
other’s feedback.
Everything posted online should be considered “public” no matter what our”
privacy” settings are. Personal identity is the interpersonal level of self with
differentiates the Goodwill as you know from others, while social identity is the level of
self whereby the individual is identified by his or her group memberships.
Consequently, we should have a filter a system to whatever information you
share online, as well as the what information do you believe in, we are being read or
posted by others online. We should look at old lady information for food whether they
are valid and true before believing and promoting them. In the same way, we should also
think well before we post or share everything online in order to prevent conflict,
arguments, and cyberbullying, and to preserve our relationships with others.
Types of self-presentation
Authentic
- Goal is to create an image consistent with the way we view ourselves.
Ideal
- Goal is to establish an image consistent with what we wish we were.
Tactical self-presentation
- Goal is to establish a public image consistent with what others want or expect
us to be.
Self-presentation in everyday life
Successful self-presentation involves:
- Establishing a workable the solution of the situation.
- Disclosing information about the self that is consistent with the claimed
identity.
Selective Self-Presentation
Two distinct forms of selective self-presentation:
Self-enhancement
- A person advertises his or her strengths, virtues, and admirable qualities.
Self-deprecation
- A person makes only have a humble or modest claims.
Impression Management
Managing self-presentation in online communities is an integral part of private
and professional life (Rui and Stafanone 2013).
When people become members of a community, they must select the relevant
and appropriate pieces of information for their self-presentation to be consistent with
the profile of the group.
