What is Social Media? What is Identity and Sociality?
So let’s get into it and start of by understanding a bit about what I’ll be talking about.
Let’s start at the base, what is social media? Social media simply refers to online sites and applications which is aimed to let people share content quickly in real — time. Nothing new here, as you should be well aware of social media or at least how websites work, or else you wouldn’t be here reading this. Usually this digital tool is associated with the use of smartphones, when in reality this communication tool started with computers. As long as one can widely share content and interact with the public, it can be considered as a form of social media as the internet communication is being used (Hudson, 2020).
Jumping on to a different topic, something we are familiar with and constantly do is socialisation. As human beings we are wired to interact in our society and understand how it works. Learning from this, most of our qualities that make up our personality as well as characteristics result from how we interact in society. We develop ourselves when we become part of the socialisation process and become a member of society. Socialisation is when we start to shape ourselves from a young age and learn as we grow. Therefore we need socialisation in order to grow as our own person and form our identity.
Social media can play a large part in the socialisation process, since it being a communication tool and socialisation takes place when individuals interact with each other.
Now when it comes to forming yourself and your identity, it’s important to understand the difference between the two. The self is your ‘personhood’ (the state or fact of being a person), so the person you are in a physical, psychological and social light. Identity is then what you are made up off (metaphorically speaking). So this would be your own personal qualities and characteristics. Preferences, values, beliefs and interests also make up your identity.
If the self and identity sound confusingly similar, its cause they are, without one the other cannot exist. Sure they have a definite distinction on paper but they are alike and in this case interchangeable. Both are only formed if socialisation takes place. Without the interaction of others the self and identity cannot be shaped.
Look at it this way, we need to go out in society to learn and interact. Once we do that we take the information that we learned and we start analysing it into what we like and dislike, views on concepts or stories to tell. These shape us and will eventually form us into the individuals we are. All this knowledge is put into our identities. This process is constant and it never truly stops. If it stopped we would be able to grow as a person. We are always changing and learning which means we are changing and growing, not in age but rather as a person. And we keep doing this till the day we die.
Another side to socialisation is also learning about society and its norms and values. However looking at it from a digital light, these things take different roads. Social media offer a number of opportunities and ways for us to interact and learn about others, which can create a huge impact on an individual’s socialisation. Through the web, we meet and come across a number of other individuals which interact with us which potentially can create new aspects where the self and your identity can explore.
If all this may seem a bit philosophical, fair enough but it's interesting to note that without socialisation we would be the person we are at this very moment. Every like and dislike we have, every opinion and value, all depends on how us as individuals interact in society. What I find fascinating is that we have the same society, yet we all become our own individual, sure we might share interests but we are simply all unique when it comes to our identity.
References:
Chako, M. (2018). Super Connected. The Internet, Digital Media and Techno-Social Life
Hudson, M. (2020). What Is Social Media?. Retrieved 5 June, 2021, from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-social-media-2890301
