Impact on Identity

• +VE AO2: Why do neophiliacs think that DFOCs are beneficial for society?

  • Digi Rev. led to big inc. in communication + commerce
  • Its also good for individuals + the economy
• -VE AO2: Who argues that the benefits of DFOCs have been OVER-exaggerated?

  Cultural pessimists
• -VE AO2: Why are cultural pessimists critical of DFOCs?

  1. Small no. of elite own them
  2. Illusion is a choice
  3. Exposure to greater surveillance
• What % of our lives do we spend on the Internet?

  40%
• +VE AO2: Bjorklund

  Argued that FB lets ppl create a online autobiography
• +VE AO2: Hart

  Argued that ppl use SM to construct their social identity + the self they want to project to the world
• +VE AO2: Sherry Turkle

  S. networks allow ppl to present 'better' versions of themselves
• +VE AO2: PMs on identity

  • Before, identities depended on factors e.g. s. class, gender, age, etc.
  • DFOCs give us freedom + choice to choose whatever aspects of our identity that we want
• +VE AO2: Gender + identity - Feminists on identity

  When online, you can present yourself however you want > free yourself from gender expectations (links to Haraway's ideas)
• +VE: Holmes

  When ppl communicate on online platforms, typically its ppl that they alr know face-to-face
• -VE AO2: Bauman

  By being able to control the communities you belong to online, your views can narrow
• -VE AO2: Katz & Sugiyama

  Phones have simply become a status symbol (therefore shaping identity), esp. among youths
• +VE AO2: Social class + identity - How can DFOCs transcend social class, therefore changing identity?

  • DFOCs hide class indicators e.g. accent, dress
  • Online identities can be anonymous/manipulated
• What kind of capital can DFOCs increase?

  Social
• What do the WC typically use digi comms for?

  Entertainment
• What do the MC typically use digi comms for?

  Education
• -VE AO2: Social class + identity - How do DFOCs boost the MC/higher classes via life chances?

  • Students access online tutors
  • Online platforms for job applications
  • Working from home online
  • All privileges that lower classes may not get if they can't access DFOCs
• -VE AO2: Gender + identity - Giese

  Parts of the Internet (e.g. gaming) have reinforced bad aspects of masculinity, like aggression
• +VE AO2: Gender + identity - An online movement promoting a POSITIVE male identity?

  #HeForShe
• -VE AO2: Age + identity - Postman


  The distinction between childhood-adulthood is blurring bc children aren't being shielded from images that they used to be before
• +VE AO2: Age + identity - PMs

  DFOCs accelerate the fragmentation of age groups, making age fluid
• -VE AO2: Age + identity - How do the elderly become a 'digital underclass'?

  They lack the skills to use the internet
• AO2: Age + identity - Gardner & Davis

  • Found that the youth are the most frequent users of SM
  • Links to Prensky's 'digital natives'
• -VE AO2: What is happening due to youth spending so much time on the Internet?

  Twenge - Rising anxiety + isolation and spending less time with friends

  Livingstone - Children spend more time in virtual world than w/ family members

  Brignall & Van Valey - Less f-t-f interaction > stunted social development

  Sherry Turkle - Constant self-tracking = less time for irl interactions > teens get more narcissistic
• +VE AO2: Age + identity - Pew Research Centre

  Old ppl use internet to bridge the geo. gap between themselves + their loved ones
• +VE AO2 - Age + identity - Ages 2.0 Project

  Training elderly to use SM made them feel younger and more alive
• +VE AO2: Age + identity - Grey pound

  • Elderly's economic/spending power
  • Increased during pandemic when they embraced DFOCs + online shopping
  • Estimated to be worth £320B annually by Saga
• +VE + -VE AO2: Age + identity - Featherstone & Hepworth

  Media imgs of ageing have made -ve stereotypes BUT can also make new identities as well.