Online identity.Communications & Media Coursework.

Online Identity
Name
Institution
Online Identity
In this age of the internet, our personal lives are out there. Forgetting the past or enjoying some privacy are all things of the past now. One of the issues that Lorenz (2019), Renner (2019), and Jacobs (2018), agree on is that social media has become a tool that people use to construct their identity. In their articles, they reveal how much of our lives are shared on social media accounts, and how we use it to construct our identity. Jacobs (2018) reveals that social media has become a way of documenting and broadcasting our lives. This broadcast is well-curated to provide a narrative that shows the world who we want to be. We only share desirable moments that will make our followers like and share our stories, thus cementing the online identity we’ve created. In fact, Renner (2019) emphasizes that the most difficult moments are not captured on social media because we are trying to construct a positive idea of who we are or who we want to be. Lorenz (2019) indicates that parents are also constructing online identities for their kids by sharing very intimate moments about their kids. By being out there, such personal narratives follow those kids into adulthood since the internet never forgets. These narratives become part of the child even in their adulthood, regardless of whether they need to create a new identity or not. In their articles, Lorenz (2019), Renner (2019), and Jacobs (2018) discuss the issue of online identity construction in depth while highlighting the challenges that come along with this phenomenon. They also recognize that this is our reality now because there is no going back. These are some of the strengths of their articles. However, the articles have approached the issue of online identity construction as a negativ...