Lesson 9 Digital Self

• Digital Self


  The persona we project in the technological world
• Digital possessions


  • Photos, videos, statuses, texts, and emails become very important in shaping Digital Self which allow people to try various personas that may differ from real life identities
• Donald Winnicott


  • He proposed the theory of True and False Self
  • True Self involves our instinctive core of our personality that needs to be nurtured
  • False Self involves people's expectation
• In social media, people can conceal emptiness or emotions just to show life is interesting. As an example, a person will start posting in social media things that is more closely resembles his or her ideal self while becoming more untrue to one's self, hence, more concrete false self
• Russel Belk


  • He coined the term, the Digital Self and defined it as the persona we project in the technological world
  • He also asserted that our possessions have great contributions in our identity and are reflections of our identities
• Erving Goffman


  • He postulated that an individual's self can be changed according to the audience, known as Self-Presentation Theory
  • It is a social theory that focuses on the context of human behavior based on the viewer's impression of the action or behavior
  • He asserts that as social beings, people consciously perform identities for self-seeking purposes which can be observed by examining online social interactions
• Impression management


  A conscious or sub-conscious process of attempting to influence the perception of other people about a person, object, or event. Today, it can be applied in the content a person post online to create a certain impression.
• Impression management strategies (Jones and Pittman, 1982)


  • Ingratiation
  • Self-promotion
  • Exemplification
  • Intimidation
  • Supplication
• Sex


  The physical, biological, and chemical makeup of an individual that relates to the differences between male and female. It refers to the person's identity based on their physical characteristics (such as having a penis/vagina), genes, and hormones.
• Gender


  The socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. Varies from society to society and can be changed. It does not exist naturally, but is instead a concept that is created by cultural and societal norms.
• Sexuality


  About who you are attracted to sexually; capacity to have an erotic experiences or responses. It may be experienced and expressed in a variety of ways, such as thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles, and relationships.
• Sexual Orientation


  A sub-category of sexuality, that deals about a person being homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual, or gay, straight or bi.
• Ingratiation - is manifested when one is behaving in ways to make him/herself likable to others. people who use this strategy have a high need to be liked by others. their goal is to gain affection form others.
• self promotion - is done when one is highlighting his/her strengths, abilities, or talents on order to be seen as competent. others promote themselves to earn respect and be perceived as having the expertise in a certain area.
• exemplification - can be seen in others when they demonstrate exemplary behavior in order to boost their character. others would sacrifice their own needs or go beyond the call of duty in order to be seen dedicated or committed.
• intimidation - is seen in people who use physical or emotional threats to get what they want from others. they believe that doing this gives a message to others that they are powerful or dangerous. this can be seen in others who threaten, and are angry and authoritative.
• supplication - is done when a person acts as weal pr dependent in order to get favours from others. they would publicize their weaknesses or shortcomings in order to be seen as dependent or helpless to acquire some form of resource.