To what extent is the identity you present on-line a construction?
This last Wednesday, after reading many of the postings in our online discussion forums, I was inspired to watch the movie “Catfish”. It was an independent film that captured an eight-month experience in the life of a man named Nev Schulman who started a relationship with a girl named Megan online. Over the course of thousands of emails, text messages and phone calls they developed significant romantic feelings for each other.
The pivotal point of the movie is when Nev finds out that much of what Megan is telling him is a lie. And after further investigation, he finds that she may not even be real. By this time, Nev and his friends decide to actually drive to Michigan and visit this girl. The surprise at the end of the movie ends up being that this girl he had been talking with for the past eight months was made up and acted out by a 40 something year old married woman.
I listed below a link to a CNN interview with those involved in the movie. I think it gives a good quick overview of what the film is about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGkiq-9UG1Q
“In theory, CMC offers a special opportunity for identity play – pretending to be someone else or just portraying different aspects of yourself” (Thurlow, 2004, p. 100). Although this film portrayed an extreme example of online identity construction, it’s interesting to see how some of how I present myself online is a construction as well. If we take the pictures I post on my Facebook page as an example, I choose to only post pictures that I like. I don’t post pictures in which I had a bad hair-day or an ugly expression on my face. In doing so I neglect to show the viewer the less attractive parts of my identity.
Another argument could be made that our Face-to-Face identity is filled with just as much construction. “One mistake people often make about online identity is to exaggerate the idea of play while forgetting that offline identity itself is as much a performance” (Thurlow, 2004, p. 102). In my Face-to-Face communication I choose how I present myself as well. I think a great example is the clothes I choose to wear which play into forming others’ view of my identity.
Thurlow refers to the “ideological climate in which we live” playing a role in our identity formation. “So our identity is partly formed by the ideological climate into which we’re born and in which we live and partly by the choices we make” (Thurlow, 2004, p. 98). As our text points out, I know that my identity also shifts depending on my location and environment. A great example of this is the difference between my identity as a co-teacher for a City College course and my identity as I spend time with close friends relaxing and barbequing in my backyard. I disclose much less personal information as a teacher than I do with my close friends. Therefore my identity would be constructed differently depending on the climate in which I live.
A final note I have on on-line identity construction is the fact that identity is in a constant state of change; whether it is online or Face-to-Face. “Current theorists now regard identity as being much more flexible, multidimensional and as we’ve seen, socially constructed. As a result, nowadays we’re encouraged to think not so much about identity as identification – it’s a process we’re working on all the time” (Thurlow, 2004, p. 97). Every thought and interaction I have will continue to shape how I see myself and how others see me. Because identification is a process, my identity today is going to be different than it will be tomorrow.
Is the identity I present online considered a construction? I would say yes. But much of my Face-to-Face identity is also. Thurlow writes, “…identity is something which we are working on all the time and that, in doing so, we like to be able to tell a structured, coherent story about who we think we are – with a beginning, a middle and an end” (Thurlow, 2004, p. 96). No matter what identity I construct, I think it important to be honest and accurate in portraying my identity in that moment.
References
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L., & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer mediated communication: Social interaction and the Internet. London: SAGE.
