Who am I in the

Cyberworld?
 Intended Learning
Objectives
 Discuss about online identity and their ‘self’ in
cyberspace and user id
 Expound selective self-presentation and
impression management
 Evaluate the impact of online interactions on the
self
 Establish boundaries of the online self: private vs.
public, personal vs. social identity online, gender
and sexuality online.
 DIGITAL SELF
The digital self is the persona you use
when you’re online. Some people
maintain one or more online identities
that are distinct from their “real-world”
selves; others have a single online self
that’s more or less the same as the one
they inhabit in the real world.
ONLINE IDENTITY
ONLINE IDENTITY is actually the sum
of all our characteristics and our
interactions while partial identity is a
subset of characteristics that make up
our identity. Meanwhile, PERSONA is
the partial identity we create that
represents one’s self in a specific
situation.
ONLINE IDENTITY
“Your online identity is not the
same as your real-world identity
because the characteristic you
represent online differ from the
characteristics you represent in the
physical world.”
 How do you build your
Online Identity?
Every website that you interact with
will collect its own version of who you
are, based on the information that you
have shared. Thus, it is up to you how
you will represent yourself as closely as
who you are and what you do in real life
or selectively, to create a representation
far from your real life.
 SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION
AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
These are characteristics showing behaviors
designed to convey an image about
ourselves to other people and to influence
the perception of other people of this image.
This explains why our behaviors can change
if we noticed that we are being watched or
observed.
SELF - PRESENTATION
is the process of controlling how one is perceived by
other people and is the key to relationship inception
and development.

PERSONAL IDENTITY
is the interpersonal level of self that differentiates the
individual as unique from others.

SOCIAL IDENTITY
is the level of self whereby the individual is identified by
his or her group memberships.
CATHARSIS
“talking cure”.

We might see the self-care of blogging and engaging in

social media and forum conversations as form of self-
therapy by talking thins thru. According to Buechel
and Berger (2012) and Forest and Wood (2012) find
that less emotionally stable people are especially likely
to attempt to enhance well-being in this manner.
FEAR OF MISSING OUT (FOMO)
is the feelings of vulnerability that leads the user to
compulsively check the news feeds and continually adding
tweets and postings in order to appear active and
interesting.
DISINHIBITION EFFECT
is part of the reason for so much sharing and disclosure
online. The lack of face-to-face gaze meeting, together
with the feelings of anonymity and invisibility, seems to
free us up to self-disclose but also to sometimes “flame”
others (toxic disinhibition).
 IMPACT OF ONLINE
INTERACTIONS ON THE SELF
When interacting with other people, we
automatically make inferences about them
without even being consciously aware of it.
We cannot help but ponder what they are
thinking about, what their facial expressions
mean, what their intentions are, and so on
This predispositions is what makes social
interactions so demanding.
 IS IT TRUE THAT
FACEBOOK PROVIDES
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
INCREASED IDENTITY
DEVELOPMENT?
Yes!!!Research suggests that young
users report increased self-esteem and
general well-being following instances
of positive feedback on social
networking sites. Relatedly, results
from a 2009 survey of college students
indicated that the heaviest Facebook
users were also most satisfied with
their lives and exhibited greater social
and political engagement.
ONLINE INTERACTIONS
CANNOT REVEAL OUR
TRUE FEELINGS AND
CAN DECREASE
PEOPLE’S HAPPINESS
LEVELS
The extra effort involved in face-to-face
interactions can be spared in online
interactions that are founded on
minimal or constrained social cues;
most of these signals can be summed
up in emoticons or punctuation.
Hence, it is easer to hide our emotions
behind an email, a Facebook post or a
tweet.
 WE CAN CONTROL OUR
SELF-PRESENTATIONS ON
ONLINE INTERACTIONS
AND THIS MAY BE BOTH
BENEFICIAL AND
HARMFUL TO THE
INDIVIDUAL
Compared with face-to-face
presentations, online interactions
enable us to self-censor to a greater
extent and manage our online identities
more strategically which provides
greater opportunity to misrepresent
ourselves. This is due to asynchronous
communication (time-delayed
interaction that does not require
participants to be online
simultaneously).
POSITIVE IMPACT OF SOCIAL
MEDIA AND ONLINE
INTERACTION ON THE SELF
 Social media sites inform and
empower individuals to change
themselves and their communities
Increased self-esteem when receiving
many likes and shares
Boost ones moral and feelings of self-
worth
NEGATIVE IMPACT OF SOCIAL
MEDIA AND ONLINE
INTERACTION ON THE SELF
 Extensive online engagement is correlated with personality
and brain disorders like poor social skills, ADHD,
narcissistic tendencies, a need for instant gratification, and
addictive behaviors and other emotional distress like
depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
 Low self-esteem due to the risk of being exposed to cyber
bullying and cyberpornography.
 More occupied in giving attention to social media than in
keeping their customs and practices.
EXTENDED SELF IN DIGITAL
WORLD – RusselW. Belk
Belk’s (1988) formulation of the EXTENDED
SELF is an influential conceptualization of
the relation between people and
possessions. The updated conceptualization
adds brand attachments and virtual
possessions to the original specification of
possession and person attachments as the
foundation for self-extension.
 NEEDED EXTENDED SELF
UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: SELF-
REVELATION
The sharing of information about self online
facilitated by the disinhibition and
confessional effects means that it is now far
easier to present ourselves in ways that would
have been awkward at best in predigital times.
 NEEDED EXTENDED SELF
UPDATES DUE TO SHARING: LOSS
OF CONTROL
As some have learned the hard way , appearing
literally and figuratively naked before the
world can come back to haunt us. What was
once private is more likely to be public . While
we may exercise self-control, it is far harder to
control all our digital s elf-representations
when others may reshare with unintended
audiences.
 NEEDED EXTENDED SELF UPDATES
DUE TO SHARING: SHARED DIGITAL
POSSESSIONS AND AGGREGATE SELF
When things are jointly owned, they are also
likely to be more relevant to the aggregate
level of self encompassing those with whom
they are shared. In the digital realm, however,
we are part of imagined communities whose
members may not be personally known aside
from their pseudonyms and online
contributions.
 NEEDED EXTENDED SELF UPDATES
DUE TO SHARING: SHARED SENSE OF
(CYBER) SPACE
The sense of aggregate self can also extend to a
shared sense of space online. The overlap
between digital aggregate extended self
among those seeking access rather than
ownership.
RE-WORLDING – taking us out of the constraints of
our physical space and providing us with new
abilities.
 CHANGES
EMERGING FROM
OUR CURRENT
DIGITAL AGE
1. DEMATERIALIZATION
Things are disappearing right before our eyes –
our information, communications, photos,
videos, music, calculations, messages, “written”
words are now largely invisible and immaterial,
composed of electronic streams stored in
digital storage devices in locations we will
never know. The question is “Can we gain
status or an enhanced sense of self from virtual
possessions?”
 FUNCTIONS OF VIRTUAL
CONSUMPTIONS - Belk
Stimulates consumer desire for both material
and virtual goods
Actualizes possible daydreams such as those of
wealth and status by enacting them in video
games
Actualizes impossible fantasies such as being a
magician or space pirate with magical objects
Facilitates experimentation such as being a
criminal in a video game
2. REEMBODIMENT
This is characterized as the “breakout of the
visual” online, leading to new
“constructions” and definitions of the self in
the virtual world where online games, blogs,
web pages, photo and video-sharing sites,
internet dating sites are possible; we are
disembodied and reembodied as avatars,
sharing identity with the chosen avatar
virtually.
 3. SHARING
In Facebook, social media friends know
more than the immediate families about our
daily activities, connections, and thoughts.
Diaries that were once private or shared only
with close friends are now posted as blogs
for everyone to read. There is loss of control
due to sharing – uncontrolled sharing of
information by online participants or friend;
restrictions are not observed.
4. CO-CONSTRUCTION
OF SELF
Our digital involvement is social in nature. Our
blogs invite comments, social interaction which
help in constructing our individual and joint
extended sense of self as the new version of
Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self Theory” known as the
collaborative self. What are the effects of this?
Seeking affirmation is obviously identified.
Friends also help to co-construct and reaffirm each
other’s sense of self thru their postings, tagging
and comments.
5. DISTRIBUTED MEMORY
In a digital world, there is a new set of
devices and technologies for recording and
archiving our memories. The dilemma is
seen in the narrative of the self. Our identity
is not to be found in behavior nor in the
reactions of others, but in the capacity to
keep a particular narrative going, done by
continually integrating events in the outside
world into our ongoing story about the self.
BOUNDARIES OF THE
ONLINE SELF: Private
vs. Public; Personal vs.
Social Identity Online;
Gender and Sexuality
Online
 SETTING BOUNDARIES
TO YOUR ONLINE SELF
Stick to safer sites
Guard your passwords
Limit what you share
Remember that anything you put online or post on a
site is there forever, even if you try to delete it
Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
Always tell if you see strange or bad online behavior
Be choosy about your online friends
Be patient
Research states that there are more gender
related similarities in establishing an online
self and blog use and that the online self is a
good venue for gender expression and
sexuality. This is because in one’s online
identity, there is no physical embodiment of
the gender or other physical markers of
identity and the online interaction serve as
an agency for negotiating and expressing
sexuality.
 GENDER and SEXUALITY
ONLINE
SEX
is the biological state that corresponds to what we
might call a “man” or a “woman. It is often explained as
biological, fixed, and immutable, it is actually socially
constructed.

GENDER
social understanding of how sex should be
experienced and how sex manifests in behavior,
personality, preferences, capabilities, and so forth.
Age and sex are the primary categories
to which people are assigned but in
online identity, these are not evident
and non-explicit. Interactions online
are important sources of sexual
information for teens. Yet, extra care
with full sense of accountability must
be observed in the use of the social
media to protect the self.
 Setting boundaries to Your
Online Self: Smart Sharing
 Is this post/story necessary?
 Is there a real benefit to this post – or am I just making
noise online without a purpose?
 Have we resolved an issue?
 Is it appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries of
our family values?
 Will this seem as funny in 5, 10, or 15 years? Or is this
post better suited for sharing with small group or
family members? Or maybe not at all?
 Are you a good Web
Citizen?
Online anonymity sometimes allow people to push
limits and act in ways they would not act. As a result,
some people especially teenagers report that it’s a
cruel, cruel online world.

Cruelty, harassment, and bullying are closely tied with

questions of online identity – like how we choose to
express ourselves, how we establish positive
community norms, and how we stand up against
behavior that’s offensive, demeaning, or upsetting.
RULES TO FOLLOW
 Stick to safer sites
 Guard your passwords
 Limit what you share
 Remember that anything you put online or post on
a site is there forever, even if you try to delete it
 Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
 Always tell if you see strange or bad online
behavior
 Be choosy about your online friends
 Be patient