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4 pages/≈1100 words
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MLA
Subject:
Literature & Language
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

How does social media affect our identity performances.

Essay Instructions:

This semester, we have talked a lot about identity performances. Erving Goffman, the prominent sociologist in his book The Performance of Everyday Life, talks about the many parts we play as individuals, the roles we fill. These roles can be determined by our race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, age, jobs, family roles, friend roles, and the list goes on. For the last few weeks of the semester, we will be discussing Nausicaa Renner’s “How Social Media Shapes Our Identity” and Jon Ronson’s “How the Online Hate Mob Set Its Sights on Me.” Renner explores the different perspectives we can take when understanding how social media affects our perceived identities. Ronson turns his critical eye to twitter and implicitly asks: why are we so quick to shame others? What harm does it do? Using both Renner and Ronson, answer the following question: How does social media affect our identity performances?

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How Does Social Media Affect Our Identity Performances?
Introduction
Personal identity is used to describe the unique description of an individual. The identity performances focus on the changes of an individual due to the change in the environment. The online environment has contributed to change identity with people focusing to display in a specific way to the online users. The patterns of change of an individual should be evaluated in identifying the real identity of an individual. “In the early days, Twitter was a place of curiosity and empathy (Ronson np).” The identity of an individual develops within a specific network with social media affecting the identity of different people (Stokes and Price 162). Identity performance is the presentation of efforts and actions to social interactions. The actions and efforts of an individual are used to judge the identity of an individual. Social media profiles provide crucial information about personal identity performances. “British parents posted, on average, nearly two hundred photographs of their child online each year. (Renner np).” Online engagements and openness provide a detailed understanding of identity changes. The online and offline identities of people overlap as personal traits cannot be viewed on social media and photos, views, and other contents posted on social media accounts are used to determine personal identity.
A new identity is developed by online self and feedback from the online audience. The understanding of a social media user is possible by evaluating the posts and feedback from the online audience. The digital interactions from people from different ethnic backgrounds impact identity development (Gunduz 89). Identity performance is an approach to evaluate the past, present, and future. “Eichhorn details the case of Ghyslain Raza, a Canadian teen-ager who, in 2002, recorded himself wielding a golf-ball retriever as though it were a lightsabre. The video, which was found by a classmate, titled “Star Wars Kid,” and uploaded to the Internet (Renner np).” Social media directly impact the self-esteem and identity of the user. Proper use of social media platforms is crucial in developing the perfect identity. Social media have a deeper impact on society compared to traditional media. “The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people.” (Ronson np). According to Gunduz social media enables identity expression, communication, exploration, and experimentation (85).
Identity expression is the sharing of views on the target audience. A person should understand the content that will be appealing to the audience from different ethnical backgrounds. Expression views should provide the audience with a comfortable experience viewing the posts. Racially profiled posts cause harm to an individual making an individual become a racist in the online network. “Nathan Jurgenson puts forth the useful proposition that most online photos are about sharing experiences, not creating memories (Renner np).” Posts and jokes on social media platforms that promote racism negatively impact the personal life of a...
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