WHO AM I IN THE CYBERWORLD?

THE DIGITAL SELF

These days, more people are becoming active in using the Internet
for research, pleasure, business, communication, and other purposes.
Indeed, the internet is of great help for everyone.
On the other hand, people assume different identities while in the
cyberspace. People act differently when they are online. We have our real
identity and online identity. Online identity is actually the sum of all our
characteristics and our interactions while partial identity is a subset of
characteristics that make up our identity. Meanwhile, persona is the partial
identity we create that represents ourselves in a specific situation.
 THE DIGITAL SELF

The number of people who are becoming more active online

continues to increase worldwide. 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 every day
life for most of the world’s population. The Philippines is among one of
the countries with the most active Internet users ( Social and Hootsuite
n.d.)
 THE DIGITAL SELF

• 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
phones.
• More than half of all mobile connections around the world are now
“broadband.”
• More than one in five of the world’s population shopped online in the
past 30 days.
• In the Philippines, adolescents are the most avid users of the Internet.
 SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION AND
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
According to Goffman (1959) and Leary (1995), self-presentation is the process of
controlling how one is perceived by other people and is the key to relationship inception and
development. To construct positive images, individual selectively provide information about them
and carefully cater this information in response to other’s feedback.
Anything posted online should be considered “public” no matter what our “privacy”
settings are. Even if one wrote something in a “private “ account, it can become public with a quick
screen capture and shared in the world.
Personal identity is the interpersonal level of self which differentiates the individual as
unique from others, while social identity is the level of self whereby the individual is identified by
his or her group memberships.
 SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION AND
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
Belk (2013) explained that sharing ourselves is no longer new and
has been practiced as soon as human beings were formed. Digital devices
help us share information broadly more than ever before.
For those avid users of Facebook, it is possible that their social
friends are more updated about their daily activities, connections and
thoughts than their immediate families. Diaries that once private or shared
only with close friends are now posted as blogs which can be viewed by
everyone.
 SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION AND
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

In websites like Flickr or Photobucket, the use of arm’s-length

self-photography indicates a major change, photographers are nnow
necessarily included (e.g. selfies and groupies). The family album of an
earlier era, has become more of an individual photo gallery in the digital
era. As Schwarz (2010) mentioned, we have entered an extraordinary
era of self-portraiture. Blogs and web pages have been continuously
used for greater self-reflection and part of self-presentation.
 SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION AND
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

Facebook and other social media applications are now a key part of
self-presentation for one sixth of humanity, as a result, researchers and
participants become concerned with actively managing identity and
reputation and to warn against the phenomenon of “oversharing.”
(Labreque, Markos et.al 2011) Sometimes people become unaware of the
extent of information they share online. They forget to delineate what can
be shared online and what should not. Furthermore, it provides a more
complete narration of the self and gives people an idealized view of how
they would like to be remembered by others. (Van Dijck, 2008)
 THE DIGITAL SELF

Many teenagers, as well as some adults, share even more intimate details with
their partners like their passwords (Gershon, 2010). This could be an ultimate act of
intimacy and trust or the ultimate expression of paranoia and distrust with the partner.
Because of the conversion of private diaries into pubic revelations of inner
secrets, the lack of privacy in many aspects of social media make the users more
vulnerable, leading to compulsively checking newsfeeds and continually adding tweets
and posting in order to appear active and interesting This condition has been called
“fear of missing out.” People would like to remain updated and they keep on sharing
themselves online because it adds a sense of confidence at their end especially if others
like and share their post.
 THE DIGITAL SELF

One of the reasons for so much sharing and self-disclosure online is the so-called
“disinhibition effect.” (Ridley, 2012, Suler, 2004) The lack of face-to-face gaze-
meeting, together with feeling of anonymity and invisibility, gives people the
freedom for self-disclosure but can also “flame” others and may cause conflict
sometimes.
The resulting disinhibition causes people to believe they are able to express their
“true self” better online than they ever could in face-to-face contexts (Taylor, 2002).
Seemingly self-revelation can be therapeutic to others especially if it goes together
with self-reflection( Morris, et. Al 2010)
 THE DIGITAL SELF

In addition to sharing the good things we experience, many share the bad , embarrassing
and “sinful” things experienced. Some react and comment on negative experiences of others.
Sometimes, some empathize with people, while others argue with others online. Relationships
maybe made stronger or broken through posts online.
Blogs and social media are the primary digital fora on which such confessions occur, but
they can also be found in photo-and video-sharing sites where blunders and bad moments are
also preserved and shared. (Strangelove, 2011). Why confess to unseen and anonymous others
online? In Focault’s (1978, 1998)view, confessing our secret truths feels freeing, even as it
binds us in a guilt-motivated self-governance born out of along history of Christian and pre-
Christian philosophies and power structures.
 THE DIGITAL SELF

According to Foucault (1998), confession, along with contemplation, self-

examination, learning, reading, and writing self-critical letters to friends, are a part of the
“technologies of the self” through which we seek to purge and cleanse ourselves.
Despite the veil of invisibility, writers on the Internet write for an unseen audience
(Serfaty, 2004). Both the number and feedback of readers provide self-validation for the
writer and a certain celebrity (O’Regan, 2009). Confessional blogs may also be therapeutic
for the audience to read, allowing both sincere empathy and the voyeuristic appeal of
witnessing a public confession (Kitzman, 2003).
 THE DIGITAL SELF

Consequently, one should have a filtering system to whatever

information shared online, as well as what information to believe in,
which are being shared or posted by others online. One should look at
online information carefully whether they are valid and true before
believing and promoting them. In the same way, one should also think
well before posting or sharing anything online in order to prevent conflict,
arguments, and cyber-bullying, and to preserve relationships with others
 PERFORMING GENDER ONLINE

In the 1990’s, many Internet scholars drew from Butler and other
queer theorists to understand online identity. According to the
disembodiment hypothesis, Internet users are free to actively choose
which gender or sexuality one is going to portray with the possibility of
creating alternative identities (Wynn and Katz, 1997). The ability of users
to self-consciously adapt and play with different gender identities would
reveal the choices involved in the production of gender, breaking down
binaries and encouraging fluidity in sexuality and gender expression.
 PERFORMING GENDER ONLINE

Recently, social media has been celebrated for facilitating greater cultural
participation and creativity. Social media sites like Twitter and You Tube have led to the
emergence of a “free culture” where individuals are empowered to engage in cultural
production using raw materials, ranging from homemade videos to mainstream television
characters to create new culture, memes, and humor. At its best, this culture of memes,
mash-ups, and creative political activism allows for civic engagement and fun creative acts.
While Digg, 4chan, and Reddit are used mostly men, most social network sites users
are women; this is true in Facebook, Flickr, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Twitter, and You Tube
(Chappell, 2011 andL, 2010) But mere equality of use does not indicate equality of
participation. While both men and women use Wikepedia, 87% of contributors were
identified as male (La Vallee, 2009).
 PERFORMING GENDER ONLINE

Male students are more likely to create, edit, and distribute digital video over You Tube or Facebook
than female students. However, the pew Internet and American Life Project found no discernible differences
in user-generated content by gender except remixing which was most likely among teen girls (Lenhart, et. Al,
2010)
One explanation for these differences is that user-generated content is often clustered by gender.
Researchers have consistently shown that similar numbers of men and women maintain a blog –about 14% of
Internet users (Lenhart, et al. 2010). While the number of male and female bloggers is roughly equivalent ,
they tend to blog about different things. Overwhelmingly, certain types of blogs were w3irtten and read by
women (e.g. food, fashion and parenting) while others (e.g. technology, politics ) are written and run by
men. Although the technologies are the same, the norms and mores of the people using them differ.
 SETTING BOUNDARIES TO ONLINE SELF:
SMART SHARING

Guidelines to help share information online in a smart way to protect self and not harm others.
Before posting or sharing anything online, consider the following:
• Is this post/story necessary?
• Is there a real benefit to this post? Is it funny, warm-hearted, teachable – or am I just
making noise online without a purpose.
• Have we (as family, parent/child) resolved this issue? An issue that is still being worked out
at home., or one that is either vulnerable or highly emotional, should not be made public.
• Is it appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries of our family values?
• Will this seem funny in 5, 10, or 15 years? Or is this post better suited for sharing with a
small group of family members, or maybe not at all?
 RULES TO FOLLOW

Additional guidelines for proper sharing of information and ethical use of the Internet according to New
(2014).
• Stick to safer sites
• Guard your passwords
• Limit what you share
• Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is there forever, even if you try to delete it.
• Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
• Always tell if you see strange or bad behavior online
• Be choosy about your online friends
• Be patient.