I am currently three weeks into my Social Media and Society class and we have covered two topics that have helped me understand people and social media a little bit better. So far we have discussed Mead's theory of the "I" and "Me" and Humphrey's thoughts on public vs. private. We have discussed what Mead and Humphrey are explaining and how they are applied to people's lives. To help me, and others who read this blog, get a better understanding of these two concepts, I have come up with examples that I think fit each concept pretty well. Here's what I came up with!
The "I" and "Me"
Before I get to my example of the "I" and "Me", I need to give a little explanation of what the "I" and the "Me" are. Wikipedia describes the "I" as "the response of the individual to the attitude of the community." I look at this as a person's ego. The self will respond to the actions of others. The "Me" is "what is learned in interaction with others and (more generally) with the environment." This means that people look at how they think others are viewing them and adopt the way they believe people are looking at them. While the "I" and the "Me" are very different from each other, you can't have personality without either of them.
Here is what you've been waiting so desperately for... my examples. When thinking of examples to use, I decided that I wanted to use real-life examples; so I chose Ariana Grande, Lizzo and Jojo Siwa.
For my "Me" example, I chose Ariana Grande. I know you may be thinking to yourself right now, "Why Ariana? She's herself and doesn't try to be someone she's not." WRONG! I believe that at the start of her solo music career, she catered to the fans she made from the Nickelodeon hit TV show Victorious. On Victorious, she played a very bubbly and ditzy character named Cat Valentine. Cat wore a lot of dresses and skirts in the color pink on the show. I would even dare to call her sense of style childish. During the era of her first album, Yours Truly, her style was still reminiscent of her character. While it was a little more mature, you could still see the influence of Cat Valentine. When it came to the music on her first album, she included songs that everyone could listen to. Because of how many people already saw her as Cat, that is who she was at the start of her music career. I also like to believe that because of this, she was able to keep her fanbase as she transitioned from full-time actress to full-time singer. As she got further into her career, her style changed and so did her music. Because of how massively popular she became, she was able to become who she actually is.
The examples I chose for "I" and are Lizzo and Jojo Siwa. They both came into the entertainment industry as themselves and have not changed for anybody. Lizzo became well know when the public became obsessed with her song "Truth Hurts". As her song became a massive hit and she became more popular, people decided to start commenting on her weight and her body. They all commented on how "unhealthy" she is. Even though she got all of those comments, she stayed true to herself. She even made a workout TikTok dedicated to everyone who body-shamed or fat-shamed her. Lizzo continues to speak about body positivity and ignores everyone who hates on her. Jojo Siwa is also someone who is unapologetically themselves. Jojo got her start on the TV show Dance Moms spinoff series called Abby's Ultimate Dance competition in the second season. From there, she joined the main show. She is known for the bows and clothes she wears and her personality. Jojo has always worn bows and bright crazy outfits and as she got older, people started to comment and criticize her style. They all thought that she needed to act her age. But like Lizzo, she continued to be herself and made a successful career.
Public vs. Private
Moving on from Mead's "I" and "Me", I am going to talk about Humphrey's thoughts on public vs. private. In chapter two of Humphrey's book The Qualified Self: Social Media and The Account of Everyday Life, she explains how diaries were used to keep track of daily life and were public for anybody to read. As time progressed, they became private and were not to be read by anybody the author did not allow to read it. Now as the internet has evolved and social media has become popular, it has become public once again. Today, people share a lot of pictures and information online for everyone to see. Many of them feel open and safe about uploading blogs or vlogs to remember what happened each day.
You may know my example as internet sensation Miranda Sings, but I know her as the person behind her, Colleen Ballinger. I chose Colleen because she shares a lot of her life online. She has three separate YouTube channels: Miranda Sings, Colleen Ballinger, and her vlog channel, Colleen Vlogs. On her vlog channel, she posts videos every Monday through Friday. She captures basically every moment of her life and posts it to YouTube for her fans to see. In a previous vlog, she has stated that she enjoys posting these videos because she loves sharing her life with her fans. At the same time, she loves that she can always go back and remember her experience with certain things (she was referring to her first pregnancy while she was in her second pregnancy), remember how she felt about certain situations, and to watch past memories with her friends and family. Colleen has made a career from posting about her personal life online for everyone to see.
Mead's "I" and "Me" concepts and Humphrey's public vs private discussion have helped me understand the world of social media we are in. When I finally understood each concept, I was able to see how they applied to myself.
After reading my post, I hope you understand at least a little bit more than when you started and hopefully my examples helped too.
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