Online Media

Facebook:

Social network
Your Profile
Your life
Chat
Sharing images
Events
Friends
Status
memories
gossip
nosey
stalking
judgemental


impact on facebook on british youth?

negative

you speak more online than in the real world
become more shy in the real world than on facebook
photos you want to get rid
allows people to manipulate people


Positive

exposure to other worldwide cultures and keep in contact with friends abroad
Helps to promote themselves
good use of advertisments  (eg bands)
every class and status is welcome
it's free

brumler and kals:

personal identity
personal relationships/social interaction
knowledge/information
entertainment
escapism

What new forms of social interaction have media technologies enabled?

• globalisation
• sharing of information
• development of self identity
• self realisation
• collective intelligence
• reshaping media messages and their flow; reshape and recirculate messages
• increased voice
• consumer communication with business (greater influence)- mass collaboration
• Awareness-bands/skills
• communication has become an interactive dialogue
• user generated content (UGC)
• self presentation and self disclosure
• increasing diversity within cultures
• online media focus on some or all 7 functional building block- identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups

"Online media are especially suitable to construct and develop several identities of the self" (turkle,1998)

"the mobile phone has become a central device in the construction of young peoples individual identity"

digital identity:

Identity consists of several fragments that permanently change

Online identity:

"identity is complicated. everyone thinks they've got one"

Media Use in Identity Construction

Katherine Hamley

Highlight key points/quotes that you think are important and then answer these questions when reading this text:

•      Young people are surrounded by influential imagery – popular media (Examples?)

TV, Internet, Magazines  

•      It is no longer possible for an identity to just be constructed in a small community and influenced by a family (Discuss)

There will be more of an impact from the media of developing and creating the teenager’s identity nowadays than the influence of the parents. All aspects help construct your own identity

•      Everything concerning our lives is ‘media saturated’ (What does this mean?)

The bombardment of different media getting absorbed influencing your behavior

In society today the construction of a personal identity can be seen to be somewhat problematic and difficult. Young people are surrounded by influential imagery, especially that of popular media. It is no longer possible for an identity to be constructed merely in a small community and only be influenced by family. Nowadays, arguably everything concerning our lives is seen to be ‘media-saturated’. Therefore, it is obvious that in constructing an identity young people would make use of imagery derived from the popular media.
However, it is fair to say that in some instances the freedom of exploring the web could be limited depending on the choice of the parents or teachers. So, if young people have such frequent access and an interest in the media, it is fair to say that their behaviour and their sense of ‘self’ will be influenced to some degree by what they see, read, hear or discover for themselves. Such an influence may include a particular way of behaving or dressing to the kind of music a person chooses to listen to. These are all aspects which go towards constructing a person’s own personal identity.
Firstly, it is important to establish what constitutes an identity, especially in young people. The dictionary definition states the following:

“State of being a specified person or thing: individuality or personality…” (Collins Gem English Dictionary. 1991).

The mass media provide a wide-ranging source of cultural opinions and standards to young people as well as differing examples of identity. Young people would be able to look at these and decide which they found most favourable and also to what they would like to aspire to be. The meanings that are gathered from the media do not have to be final but are open to reshaping and refashioning to suit an individual’s personal needs and consequently, identity. It is said that young people:

“…use media and the cultural insights provided by them to see both who they might be and how others have constructed or reconstructed themselves… individual adolescents…struggle with the dilemma of living out all the "possible selves" (Markus & Nurius, 1986), they can imagine.” (Brown et al. 1994, 814).

When considering how much time adolescents are in contact with the popular media, be it television, magazines, advertising, music or the Internet, it is clear to see that it is bound to have a marked effect on an individual’s construction of their identity. This is especially the case when the medium itself is concerned with the idea of identity and the self; self-preservation, self-understanding and self-celebration.

 “With a simple flip of the television channel or radio station, or a turn of the newspaper or magazine page, we have at our disposal an enormous array of possible identity models.” (Grodin & Lindlof 1996)

I believe the Internet is an especially interesting medium for young people to use in order to construct their identities. Not only can they make use of the imagery derived from the Internet, but also it provides a perfect backdrop for the presentation of the self, notably with personal home pages. By surfing the World Wide Web adolescents are able to gain information from the limitless sites which may interest them but they can also create sites for themselves, specifically home pages. Constructing a home page can enable someone to put all the imagery they have derived from the popular media into practice. For example:

“…constructing a personal home page can be seen as shaping not only the materials but also (in part through manipulating the various materials) one’s identity.” (Chandler 1998)

This is particularly important as not only are young people able to access such an interesting and wide ranging medium, but they are also able to utilise it to construct their own identity. In doing this, people are able to interact with others on the Internet just as they could present their identities in real life and interact with others on a day to day basis.
In conclusion it can be seen that the popular media permeates everything that we do. Consequently, the imagery in the media is bound to infiltrate into young people’s lives. This is especially the case when young people are in the process of constructing their identities. Through television, magazines, advertising, music and the Internet adolescents have a great deal of resources available to them in order for them to choose how they would like to present their ‘selves’. However, just as web pages are constantly seen to be 'under construction’, so can the identities of young people. These will change as their tastes in media change and develop. There is no such thing as one fixed identity; it is negotiable and is sometimes possible to have multiple identities. The self we present to our friends and family could be somewhat different from the self we would present on the Internet, for example. By using certain imagery portrayed in the media, be it slim fashion models, a character in a television drama or a lyric from a popular song, young people and even adults are able to construct an identity for themselves. This identity will allow them to fit in with the pressures placed on us by society, yet allow them to still be fundamentally different from the next person.

David Gauntlett: "Identity is complicated-everybody thinks they've got one"

David Buckingham: " A focus on Identity requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups"


Buckingham:

He classifies identity as an 'ambiguous' and slippery term'

• something unigue to each of us, but also implies a relationship with a broader group
• can change according to our circumstances
• is fluid and is affected by broader changes. relate this to britishness? We can see the connection between all of the changing subcultures. or cultural imperialism, eg American culture imprinted on british culture leads to globalisation
• become more important to us if we feel it is threatened 

- Social mobility
- Immigration- being a much cultural society

David Guantlett:

• Identity is complicated, however, everybody feels that they have one
• Religious and national identities are at the heart of major international conflicts
• the average teenager can create numerous identities in a short space of time( especially using internet, social networking site, etc)
• We like to think we are unique, but Guantlett questions whether this is an illusion, and we are all much more similar than we think 

Impact of online media sites, the influence of creativity:

1. Creativity as a process, about emotions and experiences
2. Making and sharing, to feel alive, to participate, in community
3. Happiness, through creativity and community
4. Creativity as social glue, a middle layer between individuals and society
5. Making your mark, and making the world your own

What is collective identity?

Representation: the way reality is 'mediated' or 're-printed' to us

Collective identity: the individual's sense of belonging to a group ( part of personal identity)