Part 4: Identity Play (Self Expression, Trying On New Identities)
4.1. Some teens, like Autumn Edows, feel like they can be someone else online. Sara, however, mentioned that while she has to play a role in her real life, she can be more authentic online. What do you feel when you’re online? Can you be more real and authentic, who you really are, or do you enjoy feeling like you’re someone else, or playing around with your identity?
Whether I am online or just in my ‘real life’, I believe I am always myself. I do not act differently online than how I am every day. I do not have a need to be anyone else online. This is probably because online, I only speak to people I know from my real life. So they already know me. I do not to speak to people I do not know since I do not get why someone would want that. I much rather speak to someone I already know since then I can speak about stuff he or she knows about me. When I do not know the person, I have not much to talk about. So whether I am online or not, I am always me.
4.2. When you think of stuff to post on your profile, who is the main audience you’re communicating to? Who are other potential audiences that might be viewing, but that you might not think of when you post things?
My profile online is mostly for my friends. I only have a profile since it allows you to talk to your friends online and post comments or do something else on the page. I do not put a lot of time in my profile, in fact I have not even changed anything since I first made it. I know that my profile is accessible for anyone who would want to see it but there is not really anything harmful about since the things I post on my profile are not that personal. They are just the basic things you put on a profile and nothing more. So the potential audience that might be viewing really could not do any harm.
4.3. In the program, teens are shown talking about the photos of themselves that they post online. Some people may post images of themselves looking like musicians, models or celebrities. Profiles may perpetuate stereotypes of others because we only get a glimpse of them through their photographs, their interests in music and movies, and pictures and comments from their friends. Do you think it is easier to stereotype people online than in real life? Why or why not?
I think it is much easier to stereotype someone online than in real life since you only get superficial information about him or her. They write very general things about themselves and by things like interests it is easy to put them into ‘categories’. When you talk to the person in real life, you will realise how many different aspects this person has. With an online profile you will not discover this, therefore people will start stereotyping.
What information does a photograph tell about a person? What information does a person’s music selection provide? How do popular culture and the mass media affect people’s selection of different types of images and music for their profiles?
A photograph shows what a person looks like on the outside. It does not provide any information about the personality of the person. The music selection of someone does provide some information about the person since music is something very personal and there are many genres that go with certain personalities. However, the information on their profiles might not be totally accurate since they might alter it slightly to fit in with what the mass media perceives as popular.
4.4. Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect – in the news, in politics, or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person?
A negative consequence of blurring the line is that the privacy of a person is decreased. More people will put more information about themselves on the Internet so more personal stuff is online for the world to see. Another negative consequence it that whoever posted the information has no control over who sees the information. Since the information has become more personal, this might be harmful for the person who posted the information.
A positive consequence is that it allows you to meet many different people. Also, since the line is blurred there will become a new sort of group of ‘semi-celebrities’ online. So people will think they stand closer to celebrities. Another positive consequence will be that there is much more information about the celebrities online since they might have become famous through the Internet.
Part 4: Identity Play (Self Expression, Trying On New Identities)
4.1. Some teens, like Autumn Edows, feel like they can be someone else online. Sara, however, mentioned that while she has to play a role in her real life, she can be more authentic online. What do you feel when you’re online? Can you be more real and authentic, who you really are, or do you enjoy feeling like you’re someone else, or playing around with your identity?
I guess it depends on what kind of life you have outside the cyber space: if you are more comfortable with who you are, you are most likely to be the real self and use your own unique identity online. But for some people who still hasn’t figured out who they are, or the language stands as the barrier of self expression and freedom, it might be problematic to be who you are. I am what I am at school with my friends, most of the time on the internet. However, I have tried multiple identities in a same discussion forum, just to experiment what it was like to handle being two different people. I was the shy, smart and nice person at one side, and with another user name I created a virtual ‘sister’ of me. So my ‘sister’ was outgoing, cool, and totally independent, and did not care about what other people thought of her. At first I enjoyed being accepted by the other users in the forum very enthusiastically, they thought ‘We’ were completely different people and I had the moment to revel on it. But the more and the more I tried to create the life I did not have, I felt little disturbed that though I could say to others that I did this and that, I really could not do it in the real life. And to me real life mattered more. So my double identity- my ‘sister’ lies in the depths of the many users in the forum, offline.
4.2. When you think of stuff to post on your profile, who is the main audience you’re communicating to? Who are other potential audiences that might be viewing, but that you might not think of when you post things?
I set my profile as private, so the pictures and personal information will stay only in the circle of tightly knit community of friends. I post the pictures to communicate the events and changes in my life to my friends. The potential audience could be hacker (very unlikely) or a friend of a friend who happens to log in to my friends account. I don’t know them and they don’t know me, but all about me is open to them.
4.3. In the program, teens are shown talking about the photos of themselves that they post online. Some people may post images of themselves looking like musicians, models or celebrities. Profiles may perpetuate stereotypes of others because we only get a glimpse of them through their photographs, their interests in music and movies, and pictures and comments from their friends. Do you think it is easier to stereotype people online than in real life? Why or why not? What information does a photograph tell about a person? What information does a person’s music selection provide? How do popular culture and the mass media affect people’s selection of different types of images and music for their profiles?
It is easier to stereotype people online, because what we see is the glimpse of the personality of people. An entire personality cannot in my opinion be defined with few words, and depending on people’s background and upbringing, a lot of people are hard to fit with a single stereotype. But the pictures allow to bring out forward (on the pictures, blogs, music list) the main interests and trend that he/she follows. Therefore it becomes so easy to stereotype them similar to people who wear the same clothing, who pose the same on the photos, who share the same music interests, and how many friends they have. A person’s music selection provides information about what kind of person he/she is at that moment they are selecting the songs for the playlist, because music is the way that people’s inner emotions are brought out by their thoughts related to the lyrics and the melody of the song. What mass media and popular culture does to tamper with individualism, is to provide a single venue where all the people of the same age, same area et cetera could be included in. And depending on what kind of type of pop culture the internet user prefers to be a part of, it makes that person one of the many people who have with the same interest. The trend to follow a certain type of recently famous culture, such as Hip Hop, becomes more likely as people are confronted by the idea that they too have to choose to be a part of that culture, in order to be just like everyone else.
4.4. Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect – in the news, in politics, or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person?
Positive implication about being a celebrity but being also an ordinary person, is the equality and accessibility. The celebrity life that are offered to the ordinary people by the internet and global -spread of popularity, offers a great amount of opportunity to be famous where other wise it would not be possible. Also blurring this line between the popular people and ordinary people who are lucky, means that there is more competition to be the most famous and the most important, and it also reduces the word Famous into the level that anyone who is special enough can be famous whereas before we used to think that Famous people were unique and talented and so much different than ordinary people. If the guy next door is Famous to the world, the word may lose the significance like it used to hold.
Welcome to your classroom blog for G12 ITGS. This is a place where you will find information, questions, and assignments etc. that are relevant to our course. If you have any questions, please be sure to ask me!
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Margot Leysen Grade 12
Part 4: Identity Play (Self Expression, Trying On New Identities)
4.1. Some teens, like Autumn Edows, feel like they can be someone else online. Sara, however, mentioned that while she has to play a role in her real life, she can be more authentic online. What do you feel when you’re online? Can you be more real and authentic, who you really are, or do you enjoy feeling like you’re someone else, or playing around with your identity?
Whether I am online or just in my ‘real life’, I believe I am always myself. I do not act differently online than how I am every day. I do not have a need to be anyone else online. This is probably because online, I only speak to people I know from my real life. So they already know me. I do not to speak to people I do not know since I do not get why someone would want that. I much rather speak to someone I already know since then I can speak about stuff he or she knows about me. When I do not know the person, I have not much to talk about. So whether I am online or not, I am always me.
4.2. When you think of stuff to post on your profile, who is the main audience you’re communicating to? Who are other potential audiences that might be viewing, but that you might not think of when you post things?
My profile online is mostly for my friends. I only have a profile since it allows you to talk to your friends online and post comments or do something else on the page. I do not put a lot of time in my profile, in fact I have not even changed anything since I first made it.
I know that my profile is accessible for anyone who would want to see it but there is not really anything harmful about since the things I post on my profile are not that personal. They are just the basic things you put on a profile and nothing more. So the potential audience that might be viewing really could not do any harm.
4.3. In the program, teens are shown talking about the photos of themselves that they post online. Some people may post images of themselves looking like musicians, models or celebrities. Profiles may perpetuate stereotypes of others because we only get a glimpse of them through their photographs, their interests in music and movies, and pictures and comments from their friends. Do you think it is easier to stereotype people online than in real life? Why or why not?
I think it is much easier to stereotype someone online than in real life since you only get superficial information about him or her. They write very general things about themselves and by things like interests it is easy to put them into ‘categories’. When you talk to the person in real life, you will realise how many different aspects this person has. With an online profile you will not discover this, therefore people will start stereotyping.
What information does a photograph tell about a person? What information does a person’s music selection provide? How do popular culture and the mass media affect people’s selection of different types of images and music for their profiles?
A photograph shows what a person looks like on the outside. It does not provide any information about the personality of the person. The music selection of someone does provide some information about the person since music is something very personal and there are many genres that go with certain personalities.
However, the information on their profiles might not be totally accurate since they might alter it slightly to fit in with what the mass media perceives as popular.
4.4. Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect – in the news, in politics, or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person?
A negative consequence of blurring the line is that the privacy of a person is decreased. More people will put more information about themselves on the Internet so more personal stuff is online for the world to see. Another negative consequence it that whoever posted the information has no control over who sees the information. Since the information has become more personal, this might be harmful for the person who posted the information.
A positive consequence is that it allows you to meet many different people. Also, since the line is blurred there will become a new sort of group of ‘semi-celebrities’ online. So people will think they stand closer to celebrities. Another positive consequence will be that there is much more information about the celebrities online since they might have become famous through the Internet.
Part 4: Identity Play (Self Expression, Trying On New Identities)
4.1. Some teens, like Autumn Edows, feel like they can be someone else online. Sara, however, mentioned that while she has to play a role in her real life, she can be more authentic online. What do you feel when you’re online? Can you be more real and authentic, who you really are, or do you enjoy feeling like you’re someone else, or playing around with your identity?
I guess it depends on what kind of life you have outside the cyber space: if you are more comfortable with who you are, you are most likely to be the real self and use your own unique identity online. But for some people who still hasn’t figured out who they are, or the language stands as the barrier of self expression and freedom, it might be problematic to be who you are. I am what I am at school with my friends, most of the time on the internet. However, I have tried multiple identities in a same discussion forum, just to experiment what it was like to handle being two different people. I was the shy, smart and nice person at one side, and with another user name I created a virtual ‘sister’ of me. So my ‘sister’ was outgoing, cool, and totally independent, and did not care about what other people thought of her. At first I enjoyed being accepted by the other users in the forum very enthusiastically, they thought ‘We’ were completely different people and I had the moment to revel on it. But the more and the more I tried to create the life I did not have, I felt little disturbed that though I could say to others that I did this and that, I really could not do it in the real life. And to me real life mattered more. So my double identity- my ‘sister’ lies in the depths of the many users in the forum, offline.
4.2. When you think of stuff to post on your profile, who is the main audience you’re communicating to? Who are other potential audiences that might be viewing, but that you might not think of when you post things?
I set my profile as private, so the pictures and personal information will stay only in the circle of tightly knit community of friends. I post the pictures to communicate the events and changes in my life to my friends. The potential audience could be hacker (very unlikely) or a friend of a friend who happens to log in to my friends account. I don’t know them and they don’t know me, but all about me is open to them.
4.3. In the program, teens are shown talking about the photos of themselves that they post online. Some people may post images of themselves looking like musicians, models or celebrities. Profiles may perpetuate stereotypes of others because we only get a glimpse of them through their photographs, their interests in music and movies, and pictures and comments from their friends. Do you think it is easier to stereotype people online than in real life? Why or why not? What information does a photograph tell about a person? What information does a person’s music selection provide? How do popular culture and the mass media affect people’s selection of different types of images and music for their profiles?
It is easier to stereotype people online, because what we see is the glimpse of the personality of people. An entire personality cannot in my opinion be defined with few words, and depending on people’s background and upbringing, a lot of people are hard to fit with a single stereotype. But the pictures allow to bring out forward (on the pictures, blogs, music list) the main interests and trend that he/she follows. Therefore it becomes so easy to stereotype them similar to people who wear the same clothing, who pose the same on the photos, who share the same music interests, and how many friends they have. A person’s music selection provides information about what kind of person he/she is at that moment they are selecting the songs for the playlist, because music is the way that people’s inner emotions are brought out by their thoughts related to the lyrics and the melody of the song. What mass media and popular culture does to tamper with individualism, is to provide a single venue where all the people of the same age, same area et cetera could be included in. And depending on what kind of type of pop culture the internet user prefers to be a part of, it makes that person one of the many people who have with the same interest. The trend to follow a certain type of recently famous culture, such as Hip Hop, becomes more likely as people are confronted by the idea that they too have to choose to be a part of that culture, in order to be just like everyone else.
4.4. Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect – in the news, in politics, or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person?
Positive implication about being a celebrity but being also an ordinary person, is the equality and accessibility. The celebrity life that are offered to the ordinary people by the internet and global -spread of popularity, offers a great amount of opportunity to be famous where other wise it would not be possible.
Also blurring this line between the popular people and ordinary people who are lucky, means that there is more competition to be the most famous and the most important, and it also reduces the word Famous into the level that anyone who is special enough can be famous whereas before we used to think that Famous people were unique and talented and so much different than ordinary people. If the guy next door is Famous to the world, the word may lose the significance like it used to hold.
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