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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