Performing identity work is nothing
new it has been around since the use of scrapbooks and the start of the
photographic snapshot. It is an important piece when it comes to explaining the
media traces people leave behind today, whether that be posting a picture of
someone’s birthday in the family, it helps with the ritual model of reinforcing
the social order or simplified as the “maintenance of society overtime.” This
allows for roles to be played within the social world whether it be a brother,
sister, mother, or father. The rise of snapshot adds to this showing the many
ways one can use a photo to explain family ties and identity within ones family
but it is the idea revolving around representations of identity work that
creates a better understanding of what it means to perform identity work via
media in todays society but there is one piece that makes identity work a
little more complicated than expected and that is representation that is found
in social media. On page 73 where the media scholar Nancy Thumin is quoted that
there is a better understanding of what it means to share a post or image on
social media, “When people perform their identities through media accounting,
they create representations. The media traces they write or create become texts
which can be read by themselves and others. Thumin argues that mediation of
those traces matter because unlike performances which may be fleeting,
representation is defined by mediation.” Representation defined by mediation
helps answer why people portray themselves the way they do on social media due
to outside framework of institutions and peers opinions like the “me” in
chapter 1. You may wonder why representation is such an important theme to me.
We use representation almost everyday with millions of photos being shared
everyday on social media, it makes it hard to grasp the reality of what it
means to perform an identity in society due to the constant changes in the
social world one can get lost in with their own self-representation. Sooner or
later finding them in an identity crisis. Neither performing the identity they
want to nor understanding what identity is needed to perform for their peers
around them. This is one of the most pressing issues for the next generation
especially young teens trying to perform the roles given to them by society as
well as the ones given through social media due to the way their
representations are mediated by their peers and followers online. “Reclaim your
Domain” found on Refinery29’s website is an article that explains this in
detail. (https://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/146733/identity-crisis-causes-social-media-fake-world?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email_share)
A good quote summing up the article is from Jill Walsh about social media and
how some people (teens) are portrayed on it, “ It is definitely changing how we
grow up and figuring out who you are. Teens are always having to manage the
highlight reel of their life. That’s really hard because they’re trying to
think about audiences they don’t even know.” The argument trying to be made
from this article is where does the mediation of representation stop and the
use of performing identity work start. Lizzie Steimer is a great example of
this issue that is happening on all media platforms, she has tackled this
identity crisis that can come from too much representation in media. ((https://instagram.com/p/BAdxSK6O7ES/?utm_source=ig_embed)
Her instagram post defining what she represented before and what she is
performing now in a more personal manner i.e. her own personal identity of
herself)
This
draws the fine line that we as social media users cross everyday posting
online. Are we really representing ourselves or what others want us to be? Or
are we following the identity work found on other sites like pinterests where
we are consistently posting things that define us personally? In todays social
world it has become common for many people to lose that ritual of interaction
in the use of relational identity performances due to so much representation
through mediation of posts that it can lead to negative outcomes like a loss of
identity and how to perform it properly. How does one really know what identity
work is and how to perform it successfully in our social world today when
social roles and models are continuously changing on social media?
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