1

Valenzuela
Victor Valenzuela
English 114B
Professor Rodrick
February 20, 2016
Identity or Reality?
We, the entire human race, have incorporated technology into our lives in a way
in which we cannot live without it. On a daily basis we include the use of cellphones,
laptops, and tablets to influence our lives and how we manage them. But is it the physical
aspect of technology that changes the view of the world and the view of ourselves? I
think not. I believe that the social aspect of technology has changed our own individual
identity in which we either try to express ourselves in the truest way possible, or we try to
become someone we are not using the means of technology. We tend to carry ourselves
away with this new form of showing the world who we are that we become careless.
Though at what costs? And to what extent? By putting out personal experiences and self
identity that one may have onto a place where it is publicly being seen. It is at risk for
predators, stockers, and harmful people, and that is the extent.
According to Pew Research Center, about 95 percent of people between the ages
of twelve to twenty nine use the internet through the use of cell phones, tablets and
computers within the United States. The level of use that technology has inflicted among
us has probable cause for shaping identity. Wherein we use common sites for socializing,
online dating, and networking. General apps such as Facebook, Instagram, snapchat,
twitter, tumblr, and other sources of social media have created an environment that allows
us to reflect on the humans we are, or want to be. Take for example Facebook. This site

2
Valenzuela
requires to input very personal information about ones self. Starting from your name, all
the way to where you were born, and ending with your relationship status. If not
mistaken, these are all very personal subjects that are carelessly advocated in Facebook.
These sites have altered our identities in the virtual world, and the reality of ourselves in
these sites. We continuously use these sites and apps thinking to express who we are and
what we do throughout our lives, but the truth in this matter is that most of the time we
use these sites to reflect on a person that we only wish we could be. Putting a great deal
of premeditated effort towards the cause of our picture perfect life on the internet. In
the article, Adolescents Identity Experiments on the Internet
Consequences for Social Competence and Self-Concept Unity by Patti M. Valkenburg
and Jochen Peter, explains a theory on why people, especially teenagers care so much
about the development of an identity created by themselves on the internet.
In adolescence, the number of identities increases because the adolescent starts to
participate in more relational contexts (Harter, 1999). A major developmental task for
adolescents is to achieve a firm and unitary sense of who they are by exploring new
identities(Valkenburg Peter 211) This quote describes the curiosity involved with other
factors of newly discovered identity from technology. Teenagers usually create profiles
and accounts for social media in a curious state of mind. But as we get older, the purpose
changes. We start to reflect on our lives and recall memories of other people, so we
communicate with them through the only way where it is the least awkward, social
media.

3
Valenzuela
But does this virtual reality effect the reality we live in? I think it does. We
constantly view events and things through technology that make us wish we had a bette r
life, and that is wrong.

In the sense of reality, we clearly recognize it. But technology brings the chance
of it being altered in a virtual sense. The trickery in this is in the way we see it. We spend
large amounts of time creating a world that is so perfect it starts to overpower our real
world. By setting a page on the internet that shows the side of us that we want to be,
clearly shows the difference of virtual sceneries and reality. From showing impossible
standards for men and women, to witnessing the lives of celebrities and how they get to
do whatever they want. We are given this view through the internet and technology. It

4
Valenzuela
then starts to show in our identity. We start to become the person we want to be, not who
we really are. And that could be very dangerous for ones own self being, and wrong.
Though, sometimes these forms of technology and social media can be put to
good use, in the right hands. Education is greatly favored throughout the development of
technology. In the article, Students Learning Styles and Their Effects on the Use of
Social Media Technology for Learning by Vimala Balakrishnan and Chin Lay Gan,
explains how the uses of technology helps students maximize their educational potential.
Studies have shown that students enjoy using online social media sites as a means of
complementing and enriching their learning activities (Veletsianos and Navarrete, 2012).
In addition, social media tools are also preferred in e-learning courses, particularly for
easy communication between students and academics (Brady et al., 2010). It is the best
thing to know that you can do something for kids and help them achieve a better future.
This is what technology and social media is slowly but steadily attaining. Helping
students figure out who they are and what they want to become is something much more
valuable than becoming someone you arent.
Technology has been shaping identities for good. It has been helping people all
around the world find who they are and who they can be. Though it does have its lows,
technology and social media encourages kids to do good in school and help them achieve
greater things in life. For people who take technology into a fantasy, its the wrong thing
to do. You can not live a life that you wish you had while the real one is passing you by.
The profile you show on Facebook, or the feed you have on instagram does not describe
who you are. And should definitely not shape your identity in real life. Even though
technology has shaped identity in a virtual sense, it should not in real life.

5
Valenzuela
Works Cited

Peter, J, and P.M Valkenburg. "Adolescents Identity Experiments on the

Internet: Consequences
for Social Competence and Self-concept
Unity." Communication Research, 35.2 (2008): 208-231.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/01/07/parents-teens-and-digitalmonitoring/
Balakrishnan, Vimala, and Chin Lay Gan. "Students Learning Styles and
Their Effects on the Use of Social Media Technology for Learning."
Telematics and Informatics, 33.3 (2016): 808-821.