The Impact of Social Networking Sites in the Identity Essay Example

for youth to put themselves out there in a textural/multimedia forum for others to see. Subsequently, adolescents are able to garner an audience of as many or as few as they feel comfortable with and also gain access to other teens with whom they would never regularly have any interaction with.

They can also experience self disclosure effects via revealing personal information about themselves to others which can lead to deep interpersonal relationships forming online with varying degrees of intimacy, which maybe they have not done yet in the real world because they don’t feel comfortable (Schmitt et al. , 2008). Adolescent personal web pages are focused solely on self presentation, effectively allowing the adolescent to tell others who they are (and sometimes give cues about who they want to be) through the content on their page.

The ambiguity and sense of decreased inhibition on the web allows youth to feel like they are less likely to experience inhibitions that one faces in the real world and more likely to experience the desirable sensation of being known by other people, which becomes increasingly important to youth during this stage in their development (Schmitt et al. , 2008). The web has a feeling of safety and privacy for many adolescents, especially if they have access to a computer in their bedroom with unrestricted access so it makes for the perfect situation for them to explore themselves through online presentation.

Ironically, the reasons behind adolescent use of social networking sites and personal web pages closely parallel the reasons why adults use the very same social media to delve deeper into their true, idealized, and various other selves

(Schmitt et al. , 2008). Online social networking sites specifically Facebook, had become widespread and popular among many, especially adolescents. It becomes clear that social networking sites allow adolescents to speak freely and to reveal their desired personalities, in addition to the rare moments of truth.

The computer screen acts as a shield for adolescents who see that they can say whatever they want. Although myths about online identities exist, adolescents rarely think about the consequences of their online actions. Online social networks, then, allow adolescents to create personal profiles and participate in interactions with others who are also part of the world around them. They do not realize that what they say lacks privacy and that their online profiles create a particular perception of them.

Social networking sites can hinder adolescent identity formation because they allow adolescents to exaggerate their personalities to form a new identity and force them to find a balance between their true and desired personalities. In the field of Psychology, Sociology, and Communication, social interactions are essential in our understanding of the human development and advancement of technology. A new forum, which is available for all ages, often take place in the Internet, specifically Facebook, which offers selection of social interactions, sharing of thoughts, entertainment, beliefs in the form of symbolic meanings and etc.

This new aspect of communication has spurred numerous studies in which “researchers are scrambling to understand the phenomenon almost as quickly as the technology advances” (Williams and Merten, 2008). With the number of individual engaging in social interactions via internet, there is a need for further researches to comprehend us with the impact of online social

networks on social and self identity of an adolescent. Social interaction is a negotiation of identities between people in a given environment. One’s identity is comprised of both a personal internal identity and a public social identity.

As people engage socially, they project aspects of their internal identity into a social identity for others to perceive. Based on the situation, people only present a particular facet of their internal identity for consideration. Depending on their own need to self-monitor, an individual manages what is to be seen dependent on the environment, thereby creating a social performance where they offer different faces to convey different facets of their identity. The goal of such monitoring is to manage the impressions that others might perceive, to convey the appropriate information at the appropriate time.

In order to assess what is appropriate, people draw from situational and interpersonal contextual cues. By understanding the social implication of context cues and perceiving the reactions presented by others, an individual is given social feedback to adjust their behavior to fit the situation in the hopes of being perceived in the desired light. As people engage socially, they are continually drawing from their own experiences to perceive others and the environment and presenting aspects of their identity that they deem appropriate to the situation.

Yet, this negotiation occurs with little conscious effort. Online social interaction is not as simple. The underlying architecture of the online environment does not provide the forms of feedback and context to which people have become accustomed. The lack of embodiment makes it difficult to present one’s self and to perceive the presentation of others. As people operate through

digital agents, they are forced to articulate their performance in new ways.

According to Eriksonian principles, adolescents need to explore and experiment with the world around them in order to understand the self in relation to that world. Successful identity formation depends on an individual’s ability to resolve issues involving relationships, popular culture, religion, political views, education, sexuality, substance abuse, rebellion, and career choices (Arledge, 2008). Waterman furthers Erikson and Marcia’s Ego Identity Status by focusing on the lasting and essential benefits of self-expression and creativity as additional components of identity formation and emotional well being.

Keeping these needs in mind and the fact that over half of teens interact online, one cannot negate or ignore the significance of online social networks on adolescent identity formation. The Internet provides an unrestricted laboratory setting for adolescent identity experimentation as they seek to understand how they fit into the world around them (Arledge, 2008). Personal web pages, particularly social networking sites are not only becoming a more popular means of identity construction among adolescents, but they’re very functional too.

Self disclosure is equally important to identity formation and the web is an easy way to present such information to others in a way that they feel more comfortable with and this can facilitate and deepen interpersonal relationships among peers. It was reported that the study of Lenhart and Fox done in 2006 utters: individuals participate on blogs and/or online social networks because they want to express themselves and interact with other people. Both of these reasons can be subject to affect the adolescent on the midst of identity crises, established experimentation and investigation.

Online social networks, then,

allow adolescents to create personal profiles and participate in interactions with others who are also part of the world around them. Forums, where starting topics develop; it can be a way of expressing opinions about certain topics that allows self-expression and ownership of ideas. These online social networkings are instrumental components of the process of adolescent identity formation. Its potential impact of online social networking on adolescents should not be underrated. Adolescents face major challenges and changes that must be resolve and clarify.

Conversing about topics that are modern or “popular” can provide a starting point for conversations between teens, and expressing opinions about these topics allows for self-expression and ownership of ideas. Online social networkings are instrumental components of the process of adolescent identity formation. “As adolescents explore their identity, they will go through behavioral patterns that on the surface may appear to be cause for concern, but are actually developmentally appropriate and healthy” (Williams and Merten 2008, p. 257).