DIGITAL SELF

• Online identity


  The sum of your characteristics and interactions online
• Partial identities


  The different representations of your identity seen and expressed online
• Partial identities are not full and true pictures of who you really are and do not include how you react in particular situations
• Impression management


  Expressing yourself in a manner by which one can elicit positive reactions from others or one may be perceived as likable
• Selective self-presentation


  Carefully choosing which parts of their real-world will be shown or represented in the online world to create an identity defined by the few chosen and curated events in one's life
• Within the first two years people first accessed the internet


  Their level of happiness decreased
• Use of digital technology and online interactions


  Seem to replace or limit physical or face-to-face interactions, thus drawing people away from more genuine encounters and meaningful connections with others
• Online interactions or internet use generally have both positive and negative impacts
• Positive impacts include ease of communication, empowering individuals to change themselves and their communities, and facilitating the expression of opinions and lobbying of concerns or needs
• Negative impacts include risk of developing poor social skills, internet addictive behaviors, and low self-esteem, as well as legal offenses like cyberbullying, cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, illegal access to data, and libel
• Dematerialization


  • Formerly tangible things have become invisible and immaterial
• Reembodiment


  • People are now freer to create new constructions and definitions of the self through avatars, characters or "heroes" in online games, photoshopped photos, and dating site profiles
• Sharing


  • People can now easily and freely access and share information, movies, photos, music, and the like
• Co-construction of the Self


  • Our online interactions allow us to give and receive comments on the posts or contents shared by other people, thereby facilitating the construction of our individual self and our extended self (the self shared online)
• Tips for setting boundaries for your online self

  • Stick to safer sites
  • Guard your passwords
  • Be choosy about your online friends
  • Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is there FOREVER
  • Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
  • Limit what you share
• Above everything, always remember to use the internet responsibly, and know that digital devices and the internet were only created by humans, not the other way around