McKee, 1

Patrick McKee

Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

24 September 2018

Social Media and its influence of Identity

As social media becomes the new normal in society, we are now able to freely describe

our own self-identity and as a result it allows people to be more open minded, seek new friends,

and have an attempt to socialize with other people, which is good on each person’s self-identity.

This aspect of social media gives the user an opportunity to connect with other people and stay

connected with current people. These things help establish a strong sense of self and allows you

to grow. Growth is the key to anyone’s self-identity and social media as well as technology

explores this.

One researcher noticed the effects of social media, finding out that different personality

types correlate with identity. According to a study done by Jin-Young Kim, which he attempted

to analyze the relationship between user’s self-identity and personality. He said that, “SNS

enjoyer and Relationship focus types, believe that SNSs (Social Networking Sites) are very

useful to keep in touch and receive updates of people. They consider relationships with others as

core parts of there lives and feel connected to people through SNS.” (Kim, 776). This influences

the self-identity since people who are afraid to speak in public can easily talk to people online.

This in turn gives people confidence in themselves and open up. This in turn supports a person

self-identity positively since the confidence has gone up. Kim created a classification to describe

each person on social media the lurker types and social people. The lurkers point out the bad
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aspects of media since people can do distrustful things, but not everyone on a social media is

malicious and he even stated that a majority of people are cautious when engaging. This in turn

helps the self-identity since it makes people feel engaged and learn to be careful in things.

Social media gives the opportunity to shine a light on someone’s identity since they are

allowed to post and share things that they find interesting. Social media gives this opportunity to

share your own opinion and find other people who are like minded on an issue. People who are

against this would say this could make you less open minded which it could happen, but different

opinions and view points increases open mindedness. This reflects on the self-identity since

different prospectives help shape a better picture of ourselves and begin to accept our own

identities. Many psychologists are wondering what the effects of social media can be on the

general public and they are aware of the effect of social conventions on everyday interactions

and how we identify ourselves. One psychologist named Jim Taylor, argued that technology is

altering us in a negative way and notices that it changes of people. I disagree with his argument

since not everyone who uses technology will be influenced by it. He said, “In previous

generations, most of the social forces that influenced our self-identities were positive; parents,

peers, schools and even the media sent mostly healthy messages about who we were and how we

should perceive ourselves. Yes, there were bad influences, but they were far outweighed by those

that were beneficial. These forces acted mostly as a mirror reflecting back on us what we saw in

ourselves, resulting in affirmation rather than change in our self-identities.” (Taylor). Yet in his

argument he states that technology alters our own self-identities, but in his explanation, he

mentions that the media mostly made positive messages, but does the media today still hold true

to that. Media still makes positive messages and media is a form of technology and if he is
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mentioning social media, there are bad but there is good too. There is good in everything and

these do not influence self-identities in a negative way.

As technology continues to expand and forms identities in a good way, since people who

are normally reserved in public are finally able to express themselves freely. Social media gives

these people a new way to communicate. According to the article by Conrad Magsamen, which

is involved in the Department of Communication at Bowling Green State University, discovered

a positive association between technology addiction and mental wellbeing. Mental wellbeing

dictates a person self-identity since we act base on how we are feeling and how we are

perceiving the world around us. The research does provide the possibility that not all negatives of

technological improvement is dangerous to people. I mean most people can get addicted to

anything besides technology, anything can be an addiction if moderation is not applied. Conrad

said, “This study found that communication technology addiction and social capital can partially

mediate the relationship between self-concealment and wellbeing, supporting the importance of a

further examination of the potential benefits of communication technology addiction. Addiction,

in any context, is normally associated with negative outcomes. However, this research has

offered qualified support for the examination of communication technology addiction's potential

wellbeing benefits for individuals who tend to conceal their personal and/or private information

from others.”. (Conrad). This study supports that technology addiction can help those who are

normally concealed about themselves, this gives them a chance to develop their self-identities to

people, this is positive effect on self-identity. Conrad also said, “In essence, communication

technology use, including social capital development and addiction, particularly with the rise in

use of new technologies such as smart phones, tablets, provides a new forum for understanding

and improving individuals’ wellbeing.”. (Conrad). The study by Conrad reinforces that idea even
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more so, by noticing the improvements and growths of people’s wellbeing. This article proved to

be great evidence for pro technology and pro self-identity growth since we are aware of the

dangerous effects of technology we can work away from them resulting in personal growth.

Growth is an important key in self-identity, it is what makes us unique. Perhaps we are being too

hard on technology.

It is even more impressive when the technology we interact with on our own smartphone

devices teaches us important lessons and makes us think of everything. I bring this up since an

article by Judith Newman noticed the positive interaction of an autistic boy with Siri. The article

argues that Siri can make a wonderful virtual assistant and can help people feel less lonely about

things. With the growth of virtual assistants like Siri, it can impact the self-identity of people by

improving their social understandings. According to Judith, “My son’s practice conversation

with Siri is translating into more facility with actual humans.”. (Newman, 631). This shows that

technology can teach people how to interact with other people and this has a positive influence

on the self-identity of people. People may be creeped out by this which is too be expected, but

yet we cannot judge it without understanding its purpose or positive benefits to people. These

trends will help people in the long run and it will precipitate personal growth. Perhaps, this is the

beginning of a massive growth in technology in a whole and it will affect everyone. I am

optimistic that the growth will be positive on everyone, however, not everyone will be happy

which is to be expected. You cannot please everyone, but you can please the general people.

Technology has always been demonized by people in some way over the mass amounts of

generations, but it does not always mean something is bad. There are worse things in the world

then social media and social media exposes those evils to the world. This gives us space to grow

our self-identity and learn more about the world around us.
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As technology continues to grow so does social networking sites, and the picture below

shows that social media connects us around the world and gives the opportunity to learn from

other people. This is a good thing for self-identity as the more cultural background and

knowledge we learn from others the more well rounded we become. This is a massive bonus in

modern times, as in the past, it was harder to get a inside perspective of someone’s culture.

Technology allows us to do this with social media. Some will say that social media can be toxic

since anybody can bully someone online, but cyberbullying is illegal and people can be sued

from it. Technology has a good impact on learning, which precipitates open-mindedness which

in turn will be good for the people. Previous generations will also attack social media and

technology as they see it as a harmful effect of society, however, despite it can be used

maliciously, people have made it easier to gather information and if someone tries to commit a

malicious attack against you, you can attempt to do something about it or block them.

Technology gives us a way to freely interact and explore new things which is good in developing

self-identify.

Technology may be to some a curse in our modern society, but yet that saying has been

going on for a millennium. Technology will always be greeted with fear and skepticism, but fear

of something does not necessarily mean something is negative for us or positive in that matter.
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We do not need to fear technology or social media as it does provide its benefits for the masses,

it can even help you with things. Social media is a major advancement in the way we interact and

learn from people and as such it is a good thing. Social media makes quieter people louder,

meaning the smallest of voices are amplified in social media and this gives everyone an

opportunity to talk to people. This is why social media is a positive thing for people it provides

individualistic growth and growth is the key to a successful future.

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Work Cited

Kim, Jin-Young. “A Study of Social Media Users’ Perceptional Typologies and Relationships to

Self-Identity and Personality.” Internet Research, vol. 28, no. 3, 2018, pp. 767–784.

Accessed Sept. 24 2018.

Magsamen-Conrad, Kate, et al. “Technology Addiction's Contribution to Mental Wellbeing: The

Positive Effect of Online Social Capital.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports.,

U.S. National Library of Medicine, 16 Nov. 2014,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4283587/. Accessed Sept. 25 2018.

Newman, Judith. “To Siri, with Love.” The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. E.d.

Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al. 14th ed. W.W Norton, 2016. 628-33.

Taylor, Jim. “Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?” Psychology Today, 27

July 2011, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201107/technology-is-

technology-stealing-our-self-identities. Accessed Sept. 25 2018.