Mead’s Theory of ‘I’ and ‘Me’
George Herbert Mead, an American sociologist, philosopher, and psychologist, has explored how society has impacted how people express and conduct themselves as individuals. Mead theorized that there are two distinct parts that make up the psychology of a person: the “I” and the “me”. According to the wiki page that covers Mead’s theory, the “me” refers to how one thinks others view them. Based on how others respond and interact with us, we can generally tell if a person views us as being smart, funny, gentle, etc. We then consider the views of others to develop the “I”, which is a person’s active response to the views and attitudes that society has associated with them. Mead has also considered the “I” to be associated with our “ego”.
In my class and individually, I have looked at a number of social media influencers and entertainers in order to analyze how they demonstrate their own “I” and “me”. Some individuals that we have looked at in class include Youtubers, bloggers, and Instagrammers. According to Mead’s theory, it is likely that the way in which all of these individuals conduct and present themselves have been influenced by society and the views that have been related to them.
A typical example of a social media presence that can be analyzed for their “I” and “me” are beauty influencers. On Instagram and Tik Tok, you can find that beauty influencers post aesthetic make-up content and skin care suggestions. Their posts are typically always well-lit with quality lighting, their tone is normally calm and/or excitable, and their final products are undoubtedly impressive. Although we may not know these influencers personally, we can assume that people have considered these influencers to be a number of things such as being skilled with make-up, beautiful, engaging, etc. When the influencers pick up on these attitudes, these become related to their “me”. So it could be that these individuals pursue becoming beauty influencers based on how others saw them. They post content that is positively engaging and displays their make-up and/or skin-care tips because these actions align with how others see them. Through interactions with others, they have developed a way of acting based on the view held by the community in which they have encountered.
Although this is not always the case, for everyone, it can be that prominent icons in society deliberately pander their actions and identity solely to align with the views about them created by society. Again, this isn’t always the case. However, it is undeniable that some influencers and social media presences are particular about what they show so that they can maintain a specific image that they desire to convey in response to society. Going back to the beauty influencer example, they may not post content that goes outside of beauty (personal events, education milestones, interests outside of beauty, etc). They may not reveal a lot about their identity because those aspects of themselves do not contribute towards the way in which they desire to be perceived.
Example:
An Instagrammer that goes by the name Alok Vaid-Menon, is a non-binary writer, performer, and social media personality. Their page includes posts of them in bold and colorful outfits. Their page helps to promote LGBTQ+ rights, encouraging that clothes have no designated gender, body-hair acceptance, and being authentic to yourself. Their presence has always been positive and genuine and has even helped a number of their followers to feel comfortable with expressing themselves as well.
Although Vaid-Menon has used their page and content to spread positivity and acceptance, they have revealed a number of times about their journey towards being who they are today. They revealed that they struggled as a child with trying to understand who they were as a person while living in Texas. They often tried to carry themselves as the “little boy” (the “I”) that others often saw them as because they learned that was how society viewed them (the “me”). They revealed how they were bullied in high school and often faced judgment by others. But over time, they began to understand who they were and began openly expressing themselves.
In the comment section of many of their posts, you will find trollers and hateful people still leaving negative comments about their appearance or lifestyle. But instead of allowing those views of others to impact how they present and carry themselves, they choose to confront hate with constructive conversation and love, all while continuing to be their authentic self. They no longer allow the hateful views of others to impact their “I”. Truthfully speaking, these comments probably still hurt, but it appears that comments like these don’t affect Vaid-Menon as heavily compared to when they were just a child.
In terms of Mead’s theory, it might be that their “I” is still affected by their “me”. Especially since recently they have received many people that support them, their work, and the values that they like to promote. They now have people that view them as who they genuinely are. Their “I” may now be impacted by the “me” that now demonstrates acceptance rather than the hate that they encountered in previous years.
Humphreys Public vs Private
In chapter 2 of Lee Humphreys’ book The Qualified Self: Social Media and The Account of Everyday Life, Humphreys explores just how comfortable we have become with sharing aspects of our lives online. Nowadays you can find people who post everything ranging from what they ate for breakfast to sharing that it’s their birthday. People have interpreted this trend of people sharing every detail about their lives as narcissistic. Afterall, it might be that a page dedicated all about you can be perceived as self absorbed. However, Humphreys would like to argue otherwise. She instead views social media as not a form of narcissism. Afterall, we have had other forms of sharing our lives in the past such as journaling and keeping a diary, and although those center on the lives of one person, they have never been branded as narcissistic. It seems that it is only when we take daily accounting to a digital platform that the topic of narcissism is brought up.
It is also brought up by Humphreys that many people point out that social media requires you to consider your audience when posting and creating content. People have to consider the amount of intimacy they are engaging in with their audience, what content interests them, etc. So perhaps social media isn’t as self-obsessive as people view it as.
For class, we considered Facebook memorials and YouTube break-up content to consider just how public presumably “private” life events are openly shared now. In the event of a loss, mourning is no longer limited to in-person. Facebook has now offered memorial pages that allow for people to pay their respects to deceased Facebook users. People find the ongoing ability to address loss to be emotionally exhausting. Of course, the process of mourning can take a longer or shorter amount of time depending on a person in real life, but those processes are usually our own private experiences. Facebook makes it to where you inevitably have to see the mourning processes of multiple people. So right as you feel like you're trying to heal in order to keep moving forward, you are repeatedly hit with a reminder of what and who was lost. Couples are also now taking to social media to share the development of their relationship rather than keeping that between them. Some of the articles we read revealed how viewers who have followed the progression of romantic relationships online, become attached or feel invested in the state of their relationship based on the genuine emotions that are shown. Which is probably why it is so devastating for audiences when they see these couples split.
Example:
The TikToker, Lauren Wolfe, creates 30 minutes long Tik Tok videos that often account for what she does throughout the entirety of her day. These short videos that show portions of her days in chronological order gained a lot of attention from Tik Tok users. One video titled “What I Spend In a Day in NYC” gained 11.6 thousand likes. Her video shows everything she does in a day including riding a bike home, eating breakfast, buying coffee, riding the subway, meeting up with her mother, and having dinner with family and friends. By the end of the video, she reveals just how much she spent during her day.
Some might find it strange that people would like to watch a video documenting a person's entire day and the amount of money they invest in it. Like Humphreys suggested, some might even find it narcissistic to document and post your entire day on the internet for all to see. But like Humphreys argument, she is just documenting her life virtually. It would be the same if she had written it in a journal or a diary.
Plus, Wolfe has obviously taken into account her audience when making her content. She is always interacting with the camera and narrates her videos in a way in which it feels as if she is directly addressing her viewers. She shows every detail that she finds meaningful so that viewers can feel as if they are going through her day with her. She includes financial details about her day in order to pique the interests of viewers that might be curious about what it is like to live in NYC for a day. Her content is about her life, sure. But she has also taken into account how she can share her life in a way that is interesting and engaging for her viewers.
Many other TikTokers that post the same general content about their daily lives do the same thing as Wolfe does. They post their content but consider how to construct it in a way that is appealing for viewers.
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