Category: Identity in Communities and Networks

Social media – The Root of Pedophilia in the 21^st century?

Abstract:

This paper talks mainly about how the main root of pedophilia cases is social media. The first part of the paper explains what social media is, its use, how it has brought change to the world, what makes social media a boon in the eyes of the world and how it is useful in the modern era. The second part of the paper explains what identity is, the definition of online identity, the main aspects that make online identity and authenticity of identities on social media. Online identities are important in this paper as much as social media is, due to the fact that its different aspects will appear in several parts the main content discussed. Later comes a paragraph about what pedophilia is. And then the main content is discussed, that is, how social media is the main platform that leads to pedophilia cases. The discussion shows how pedophiles make the use of social media as a bait and how young adolescents are irresponsible.

Social media, its use, changes brought to the world and aspects that make social media make social media a boon in the eyes of the world:

The most common definition of social media is that social media are platforms that simplify the sharing of data, thoughts, career interests and communication in the form of text or video conference through the official website or apps (Lomborg, 2015). The content shared are user-generated content and they can be in the form of written posts, photos, videos or a mixture of all three (Lomborg, 2015). Currently, the most common social media platforms known and used are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp (Lomborg, 2015). In today’s life, social media is one of the most useful tool present in the world. In fact, except for babies and war-affected countries, the majority of the world’s population are at least on one social media platform.

The main use of social media that is most commonly known is to communicate with closed ones through written text, through visuals and video conferencing (Lomborg, 2015). For youngsters in particular, the main use of social media is to make new friends that can be their potential dates (Lomborg, 2015). Through years, however, the use of social media has been extended for marketing and journalism purposes. Existing and new businesses get to make themselves known, get to promote easily their content or announcements or events through sponsored posts (Lomborg, 2015).. They even get the chance to attract new potential stakeholders due to the huge number of reach that social media provide to them. (Lomborg, 2015).  Existing and new news outlets use social media to get maximum reach as when they share their content, hashtags and the massively huge number of users increase their reach (Lomborg, 2015). These are what make social media a boon, in the eyes of the society (Baym, 2015).

Online Identity

Online identity is a very important aspect in this paper. Before explaining what online identity is, the meaning of identity will be first discussed. When it comes to human beings, identity is about their names, ethnicity, abilities, looks, traits, beliefs and expressions, that is, all the factors what demarcate themselves from others (“What is Identity?”, 1991). For organizations or groups, identity is all about their worth and unique features or reputations that build up their image in society, be it a good one or a bad one (“What is Identity?”, 1991). Online identity is what makes an online user on social media or online gamer unique from the other users or gamers. That is, online identity is about the information and reputation of a user online such as the users’ names on social media or games, type of avatars created in games, the strategy he or she uses and their number of victories or their streaks, etc (Stewart, 2011). The aspect of online identity will appear in the coming paragraphs.

Pedophilia

Pedophilia is a mental disorder where an adult feel himself or herself sexually attracted to children and adolescents (Rowan, 1989). A person having this illness is called a pedophile. The meaning of a pedophilia case is where a pedophile manages to acquire his or her prey, where a pedophile gets the chance to call and meet up for physical relationship (Rowan, 1989). A pedophilia case is also where the pedophile make physical abuse of his or her young prey (Rowan, 1989).

Case study: Pedophilia Cases

These cases currently involve these three aspects from the social media environment; social media features, youngsters and their online identity (Rowan, 1989). These three aspects lead to pedophilia cases in several ways.

• Social media features: Social media’s main involvement in these cases come from its features itself. On social media, multiple identities can be created due to the abilities to totally personify an account other than the own selves of the users (Lomborg, 2015). Not only this, the users can name themselves whatever names they want and save anyone’s pictures (Lomborg, 2015). Through these opportunities, identity is like a wax statue that can be moulded into whoever person that the artist desires (Stewart, 2011).
• Youngsters: The problem of youngsters in these cases is the way they dress and their body languages. Young girls like to look older; girls who are of 13 years of age would probably want to look like Rihanna or Nicki Minaj, just to be attractive enough so that they can get themselves a potential date. Having a boyfriend is a must for young girls simply to be accepted by peer groups, so, not only they copy the flashy clothing of those celebrities but they also copy their ways of walking and also do exercises to develop their bodies into the body of a matured woman, at a quicker rate. If they fail to develop their bodies into the desired body shape, they make use of things such as fake breasts to make their breasts look bigger and to become more of what they believe boys and men like. At the end of the day, they end up attracting male adults where the attraction can be categorized as lust. Hence, this can be seen as a factor which forced a male adult to become a pedophile.
• Online identities of youngsters: Other ways in which youngsters contribute in pedophilia cases are immature attention seeking acts on social media. Youngsters tend to build a much more notorious identity of themselves than projecting their own original identity as a notorious character will only attract more people and will also make them look “cool” in front of their peers. To build this notorious identity on social media, youngsters will mainly share semi-nude pics, posts about sex and media containing adult contents. By doing so, they attract pedophiles as well. Seeing these Medias, semi-nude photos and sexual contents, adults tend to develop some sort of thinking and feeling for the minor which will later most probably turn into lust.

The bullet points above show briefly that social media, youngsters and their online activities contribute into pedophile cases. Now, this case study will support the thesis statement, which is; social media is the root of pedophile cases from the 21^st century.

As explained in the first point of the case study, social media allows users to build a totally different and improved self of themselves on the platforms. These features help pedophiles to build a younger identity while creating their account which they will create as bait (Harkins, 2013). The question is how they create a younger identity. The answer is clear and simple. They will create fake accounts and then they will steal young boys’ photos so that they can put them as profile picture, they would then fabricate their age by setting it to 15-18 years of age (Harkins, 2013). Then, they will like all the pages or other contents that young boys like, so as to make the account look a real one (Harkins, 2013). They will also add in their personal information that they are currently attending a specific college (Harkins, 2013). After setting up the account, they will start to add people that are attending the college that they are supposedly attending (Harkins, 2013). They will then start searching for young girls and send them friend requests (Harkins, 2013). A huge majority of young girls will accept the friend requests, as young girls from this generation need to absolutely have a boyfriend so that they are accepted by peer groups (Stewart, 2011). This is where the real danger starts.

As soon as the friend requests get accepted, the wrongdoers will then start with a very friendly approach (Harkins, 2013). They will talk about their school life, lie about a couple things such as they have a huge financial stability so that the victims are more attracted to them (Harkins, 2013). Then, they will share their interests among themselves (Harkins, 2013). Talking to each other regularly will bring them close and the predator will then propose to the girl (Harkins, 2013). If the girl does not have a boyfriend, there will be a huge possibility that the girl will say yes to the proposal (Stewart, 2011). Being her boyfriend, he will probably ask to send nude photos of her and the girl will obviously send him as she will not dare to say no as she will be afraid to offend her virtual boyfriend (Harkins, 2013). And there will be a day that the crook will ask her victim to meet him or her (Harkins, 2013). This will be the day that the girl will come to know the real identity of her so called ‘boyfriend’ and will be too late for her as she will most probably end up being raped (Harkins, 2013). If the girl refused to date the predator, she will still be at risk. The predator, as a friend, will someday or another raise the topic about sex (Harkins, 2013). Young and curious, the girl will also be tempted to talk about it and being close to each other, the offender will ask the girl if she has ever tried ‘this or that’ and will then explain the girl what should she do or try (Harkins, 2013). He might even send her porn videos as samples (Harkins, 2013). And when the naïve girl will say that she tried it, the boy will ask her to send him a picture or video of her doing all these so that he can guide her (Harkins, 2013). Then, after receiving all these explicit contents about the girl, the predator might use them as a weapon (Harkins, 2013). They will blackmail the girl with these media, with the threat that they will spread them all over the internet. They will blackmail the victim to either receive more of these photos and videos or they will use it for money-extortion, also known as sextortion. In fact, once having the power to blackmail the prey, the predator can control the prey and force them to meet up for sex.

Social media platforms should find a way to strengthen the security of the society and the communities built on their platforms. The best way they can ensure security is to add more account confirmations such as ID Number or National transport ID Number instead of integrating only mobile phone number confirmation (Lomborg, 2015). If these security measures are put into practice, pedophilia cases will be decreased as pedophiles will not be able to create fake accounts or steal identities of others.
As a conclusion, it can be deduced that despite the fact that social media is seen as a boon, social media is also a cause of dangers such as pedophilia to the society. Social media is well and truly the root of pedophilia cases in the 21^st century.

Are Muslim women challenging stereotypes on online communities?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Muslim women are challenging stereotypes and prejudices. Muslim women have been confronting negatives stereotypes on online platforms since a very long time. The paper talks about the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim women in the media. More specifically, emphasizing on how are they challenging these issues. The paper supports scholarly articles from the Curtin library. One of the article is ‘the veil and Muslim women’s identity: Cultural pressures and resistance to stereotyping’ by Sen and Wagner (2012), they believe that despite wearing the veils Muslim women can achieve their dreams and ambitions. Another article talking about the emancipation of women wearing the ‘hijab’ is ‘Rethinking Muslim and the veil’ by Bullock. Moreover, it is important to highlight the study of Yvonne as she states ‘Emancipated Muslim women contributions’. Furthermore, ‘Confronting Prejudice against Muslim Women in the West’ will be discussed by Sotlani, 2016. The articles is about how the Muslim women are resisting and being able to challenge these stereotypes.

Introduction

Truly the Muslim women are struggling to present themselves as other women of the world. Is it necessary for Muslim women to portray themselves as emancipated females? Yes. In this new era many changes are being occurred. Therefore these women are considered to be on the right path. Despite being victim of prejudices, the Muslim women are struggling to portray themselves as modern women living in the Western world.

Firstly the introduction will integrate the discussion of the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim women that is how the media and political discourse tag them as weak and oppressed and how the veil is seen as a controversy issue. Secondly supporting arguments which will showcase how Muslim women are resisting and defending themselves that is the stereotypes are being challenged with time. Focusing on , online communities being a platform where online forums are being organized to encourage these females to be emancipated, secondly women wearing the veil are seen to be modern and stylish and thirdly how Muslim women being role models such as singer, you tube vlogger and fashion model uses platforms to challenge stereotypes.

Identity is a vital concept in the society. Identity refers to the sense that someone has of who they are and what is the most important about them. In this new era gendered performance on social media is becoming a controversial issue, especially for the minority group which are the Muslim women. ‘There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender… identity is per formatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results’, (Judith Butler, 2014).

To begin with, the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim women and prejudice theory is seen as a polemic. Media has thrown a very stereotypical light over Muslim women since a long ago. They are seen as weak, inferior and oppressed in the society. Rochelle Terman (2017), states that Muslim females are associated with political violence and terrorism in different media outlets. Therefore these media portrayals influence public opinion about them. Public opinion data reveal growing anxiety about Islam’s compatibility with “Western” values of tolerance, acceptance and civility (Panagopoulos 2006), and people who believe that Muslims remain culturally distinct are more likely to have negative attitudes about them.

According to some research, the American coverage represents the Muslim women as being inaccurately as ‘anti feminists’, which reinforce stereotypes of female Muslim as a treat to Western culture. The Americans have already been victims of several attacks and explosions therefore they reluctant when a woman with the veil appear before them.

This picture was taken by an American photographer from the Washington Political University, stated that Muslim women were opressed and were beaten on the streets.

Retrieved from political university, 2014 .In the last three decades, a big theory has developed commenting Western portrayals of Muslim in the society. Since the attack of 9/11 the Muslim culture are purposely being stereotyped as ‘terrorists’. American media discourse is purportedly obsessed with Muslim women’s oppression, for which the veil is the ultimate symbol and case in point (Ahmad 2009). Popular media outlets portray Middle Eastern and Muslim societies as uniquely or particularly misogynistic, especially compared to Western countries (Kumar 2012).

Supporting Ideas

Awareness online campaigns

In this new era stereotypes are being challenged. Firstly, these Muslim women are breaking the ‘oppressed Muslim woman’ stereotype by improving their own behavior, that is they are interacting more and more with members of the non- Muslim ethnic majority. In addition to, they are representing themselves in a more modern and emancipated citizens. The Muslim females are changing the dominant image in the society. Despite of existing stereotypes Muslim women are facing these challenges with courage and pride. The females from the minority group are participating in Islamic organization where they recognize their religion to be as important as their identity. Moreover, they are challenging the perceptions of Muslim women in the Western society. Different research were conducted to examine how they are changing the image of Islam. They engaged themselves in a way to convince the society that they have the same rights as everyone in the society. All human beings should be well treated with the same rights and equality.

They are emphasizing that all Muslim women should seek education and have the opportunity to develop their skills and talents on the labor market. Furthermore, campaigns and forums are being organized on online communities to promote women empowerment and to positively sensitize people about Islamic women. They are interpreting themselves as being the Islamic feminists, as a result the females are engaging themselves on social media platforms to challenge these stereotypes. For example, ‘Al Nisa’an online group association formed and gathered Muslim women on social media platforms where they could participate and engage themselves on online debates. Additionally these women gave interviews and made awareness videos on online platforms. As a result the public could engaged themselves through the likes, comments and shared posts. For example the words of Zainab, a young Afghanistan who is active on this online association stated that, ‘women have to get a much more active participation in society. […] Be more active, simply like, ‘I am Muslim’. Be proud of it, and make it known to the world: ‘Yes, I wear my hijab, but it doesn’t stop me from anything. I participate actively in society and I haven’t left my religion to be able to do so’ (Mashri, 2014).Focusing on the online group association where Muslim youth is being promoted. They encourage youngsters to not to get involved in criminal and illegal activities otherwise they will damage the reputation of Islam. According to the ‘Young Muslims Agency’, young adults are being online ambassador to make sure to behave contrary to negative expectations. As online forums are being frequently organized on web 2.0 the citizens are reminded how to behave in the society according norms and regulations.

Resistance of the ‘hijab’

They are able to defend themselves as they acquire religious knowledge which leads to live a pious life which therefore form the key to Muslim’s women emancipation and hence breaking the stereotypes. Butler states that many females who showcase themselves on an ambassadorial role should portray an effort of ethical self-fashioning. It is noteworthy to notice that all women are willing to present themselves as positive citizens in the society. Furthermore, Muslim women would dress themselves in a stylish way. For example when posting a picture on social platforms they would deliberately choose a more fashionable ‘hijab’ style. In a way they will be more emancipated as well as restoring their culture. As demonstrated in this picture, where they posted it on social media.

Retrieved from Pinterest, Muslim women wearing the veil and jeans in Western countries.

The present minority illustrate cultural diversity, permeability and shifting boundaries (Khan, 2000). A new image is being showcased on media platforms they are being viewed as courageous and independent women. For example, the Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman and Egyptian activist Asmaa Mahfouz, who are both wear the veil. They are sometimes categorized in certain Western feminist organization. These women have written books such as ‘Muslim women speak about dreams’, ‘Under Western eyes: politics of Feminism’, (Chandra, 2009). The media portrayals of Muslim women is evolving with time. Focusing on women wearing the veil has more involvement on television, in films and on social media. To challenge this irony, Anna Piela an author from ‘They call me Muslim’, states that “I am just doing my bit to promote modesty: ‘hijab’ self-portraits on photo-sharing websites,” This picture has been posted on websites to show case the modernity and diversity of Muslim women.

Retrieved from, ‘They call me Muslim’

Nowadays women are being motivated to follow their aims and ambitions. The ‘hijab’ is still considered as a threat in the society, despite all these prejudices these women are resisting social constraints and reconstructing new identities for themselves. For example, there are several Iranian women who are working in the broadcasting media. Studies have been proven that they are efficient workers. There have been many controversies that female Muslim cannot drive they are seen weak and stupid drivers unfortunately this is not the case, these prejudices are being challenged and these women are proving them wrong. This Muslim woman works in a Western country where she drives a car and is called a ‘Uber driver’ and is earning a living.

Retrieved from Account Facebook, 2018

Citizens are accepting her efforts and see her as a normal person earning money in this lucrative business.

Another good example to showcase how Muslim women are resisting stereotypes is how Hijabers are challenging these prejudices.

Retrieved from Journalistic reviews, 2017

Muslim women are challenging the stereotypes of Muslim female as being submissive and disempowered through fashion conscious on global communities. Nowadays they are creating an image of the ideal modern Muslim women. These hijabers observed their cultures as well as visible on social platforms. These women are presented everywhere on television, in advertisements, soap operas, in adds endorsement as well as they are brand ambassadors of products and services. As demonstrate in the picture below.

Retrieved from beauty brands, 2017

Moreover, the states are encouraging athletes from the minority group to have the chance to participate on International level in sports. This is pushing the women to achieve their dreams and ambitions. Furthermore they are restoring their culture as well as being stylish in a practical way. This picture when taken when this girl participate in the Olympics.

Retrieved from Olympics, Nike 2017)

Nike have promote this product on social media where glamourous models wore this ‘Nike Pro Hijab’ on the ramp. They also promote this product through face to face gathering and hijab wearing tutorials. Moreover, Alila a researcher states that Muslim women who travel and work are very inspirational about the Quran. Therefore while posting their images on Instagram they mix together images and moral messages in the description. For an example, Syifa Fauziah appears to be healthy and leading a positive lifestyle where sunlight is gently falling across her face and she has perfectly posed. The accompanying message reads: “If we don’t fear Allah, who then will we fear?” (shilaf,2016)

Muslim women as models on different platforms

Muslim women are emancipated and wish to climb the social ladder. Long ago they were reluctant to share their opinions and point of view in front of the camera but in this diversifies and modernized world they prefer to voice out in order to acquire their rights. Marjon Carlos (2017), talks about a young Muslim poet who uses social media and fashion to challenge stereotypes. This Muslim girl from Brooklyn named Riya Hamid is combating a massive mission around her Muslim faith. When she was a child she was dressed by her mother who comes from Bangladesh, with time Hamid decided to challenge her cultural double standards. She started to gain confidence and started to view life in a more diversified way.  She explained about her investments in her visual presentation helps articulate a Muslim woman’s passions when the society are against. She has the control about her content sharing that is she decides the image she disseminates of herself to the world. Moreover she learned how to mix her heritage and music to create her personal style. She was very traditional and believed in modesty. Her parents never introduced her to music and arts. When she was a child she wasn’t allowed to show her skin and was bullied at school. She was portrayed as a typical Muslim passive woman in the society. But now with time shifting and the introduction of web 2.0 Riya is bold and confident in how she looks. She is the type of woman that isn’t afraid of wearing a form-fitting dress despite having wide hips and large breasts. Moreover, she dressed herself in a particular way where better solidify her identity and become more conformable with her appearances. Moreover she is able she is perceived as a role model on Instagram. She is the girl of tomorrow where modern values are dictating. She is a famous Instagram poster. She has stated that she is the one distributing and consuming media. She also can control the content that appears on your feed instead of the media dictating what you should see, and my feed was just filled with brown bodies. I realized, ‘Wait, I spent most of my life feeling unattractive because of Eurocentric beauty standards and my struggle with body dysmorphia is still constant and aggressive. I can take all the selfies I fucking want.’ (Riya Hamid, 2017)

Retrieved from Riya Hamid,2017

Another example of a Muslim woman who is setting an example is a young lady from the feminists associations, Mennel Ibtissem, she won over the jury on the French TV show the ‘voice’. Furthermore, The French daily Le Figaro considered her turban a more modern way of wearing the veil “It is inseparable from my look. You will never see me without it,” she said, drawing a parallel with French rapper Maitre Gims who never removes his dark glasses. (Middle East eye, 2018). Several hijab wearing female singer has tried their luck on this platform. One of them is Amina Skhiri a psychologist who participated in 2016. She is still fighting for her rights. The talented girl did create history as she wanted to spread peace and positivity world widely.

Retrieved from BBC 2018

Conclusion

The prejudices and stereotypes are still present but Muslim women are doing a great effort to overcome the challenges. They are being successful in their mission. More and more women are climbing the social ladder. To sum up they are able to challenge and resist the stereotypes. On the other sides those being victims of negative tags are still fighting for the best.

 

References:

Judith S. Donath, 2014. “Identity and deception in the virtual community,” In: Marc A. Smith and Peter Kollock Communities in cyberspace, pp. 29–59.

 

Mernissi, F. 2016. Beyond the Veil:Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. London: Al Saqi 48-52

Wagner, W., Holtz, P., & Kashima, Y. (2012). The veil and the Muslim Identity Construction and deconstruction of essence in representing social groups: Identity projects, stereotyping, and racism.Social Behaviour, 39, 363–383.

Yvonne(2014) ‘Emancipated Muslim women contributions’  Acting like role models in the society pp 28-56

 

Abstract

In recent years, social media have become a major part of our lives and it has impacted our ways of socializing both in the real world as well as the online communities that are present. With advancement in Web 2.0 and the growing popularity of social networking sites amongst teens, users are conformed in creating online identities that may resemble or largely differ from reality. How the youth participate and represent themselves on social media platforms reflect valuable information on their identities and peer-to peer sociality (Danah, 2007). Using the works of Goffman’s theories of social performance, this study looks to analyze the behavioral impacts on the youth on the virtual creation of identity through social networking sites. This research fits within the streams of Identity in communities and networks. This essay will point out certain behavioral traits of virtual identity creations supported by the works of Dannah and Pearson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behavioral impact of youth on social media.

Over the years, social media have gained popularity amongst users of all age groups. Nowadays, one can find almost any type of information online within a matter of minutes. As a result, sites are becoming more user friendly and generating more traffic. Social networking sites are still growing in popularity. With it, also comes the amount of time the user spends on those sites. Now, the availability of accessing these sites have become much easier. Users can access almost any social media sites via their mobile phones rather than their personal computers (Pew Research Internet Project 2013).  Social media has allowed for information to be carried out far and wide. Communication is by far the most common social media tool. On sites such as Facebook or Twitter, users can share comments, upload photos or videos or even establish relationships with other users. These platforms can also be a way to collaborate with other users. For example, Wikipedia is edited and constantly updated and reviewed by users. Blogs are platforms where users can again collaborate and share opinions or review movies, restaurants, products and so on. Social media also gives its users the ability to upload videos and encourage participatory culture amongst audiences especially on YouTube.  In a way social media touches upon vast areas. It is developing at a fast rate and has got a large portion of the society hooked up on it. With the concept of users staying connected with their online community, a phenomenon has risen wherein users can create their ideal identity online.  Today’s teens spend a lot of time online connecting with friends and sharing photos or expressing their views over matters that they are concerned about. To narrow down this vast spectrum, I have decided to carry out the research on the behavioral impacts of the youth on the virtual creation of identity through social networking sites.

 

The teen demographic has been chosen as an area to research since this group is currently growing alongside social media and they spend an enormous amount of time on those sites. As a result, certain social networking sites such as Instagram and YouTube will be considered to better illustrate the arguments made. Most teens engage with a form of social media without realizing it. They tend to get into a habit of maintaining an online social presence rather than a physical one. The teen demographic can be observed as a group that is moving more towards being concerned of online friends rather than face-to-face interaction. It can be argued that there are some positive effects of spending time on social media, however, there are equally as many dangers with social networking sites. Teenagers, find it constantly hard societal pressure on them. They are constantly told to behave a certain way or function a certain way which is regarded acceptable for the society. However, online, they have the freedom to create an identity for themselves and likewise, connect with other people with similar tastes. Behavioral traits that are created online can be beneficial for some people, but the dangers outweigh the benefits. Teenagers find it necessary to be the best versions of themselves when sharing part of their lives online. Ironically, social media platforms in a way have put more pressure and restrictions on teenagers to fit the ‘’virtual community’’.

 

As stated above, this essay will be supported by using examples of Instagram and YouTube. While the option of researching on Facebook was also available, it was decided to stick to these two mentioned sites as these are networking sites which have allowed teenagers to post pictures or videos on a professional level, thus having the pressure that everything that is posted must be perfect. Instagram is a free photo and video sharing service (Instagram, 2018), that allows users to post, edit photos and videos, write captions, like and comment as well as share posts. This site allows users to upload their best photos and videos which are esthetically pleasing to the Instagram community or their audiences. Instagram can be accessed via personal computers or mobile phones. This means that an Instagram user is always connected with the application. Users as young as thirteen years old use the site (Instagram, 2018), which is the stated age limit for users on this application. However, there are users who are younger than the age limit and have accounts on Instagram. As of 2017, there are 800 million active users worldwide (Statista, 2018).

 

A feature of Instagram is that it functions as a window for the user’s daily activities. Users post photos or video clips of what they are wearing, eating, going to and so on. Moreover, Instagram has a feature that allows users to post stories which disappear after twenty-four hours. These stories can be perceived as the different activities that this user has done throughout the course of the day.  Users can comment and like photos, which for most users like posting on Instagram. Having an online environment where one can comment on photos, allows its users to develop certain behavioral traits. Users follow other ‘’Instagrammers’’ and try to level up their photos or videos to them.

 

YouTube is a web 2.0 platform that allow users to upload videos which can then be streamed by viewers. The audience have the option to like, dislike or comment on videos. The idea of being able to share opinions and comments open a new virtual community where the viewers can communicate with other people from around the world who share the same interests, be it in music, politics and so on. With the concept of creating channels, certain people have made a career out of YouTube. Commonly known as Youtubers, these people create content and post them on the social networking site. They in return generate money by advertisements. When someone clicks on an advert or watches 30 seconds of it, the advertiser pays the Youtuber. Famous YouTube channels of the moment include PieDiePie, Smosh, Niga Higa, Jenna Marbles, Superwoman and so on. These content creators have between 15 to 55 million subscribers (McAlone, 2017).

 

YouTube has over one billion users worldwide (YouTube, 2018). It is also one of the most diverse communication and social platform and is available in 88 countries and 76 languages. On average, teens and young adults spend 34% of their video watching time on YouTube compared to other formats such as TV, Netflix and so on (McAlone, 2017). This research has involved exploring this social networking site as to understand what kind of behavioral identities can be identified to the process of maintaining a brand on YouTube.

 

 

Considering the context of Instagram, some people may say that social media platforms are elaborate forms of popularity contests. Researches have showed that adults and teens use them differently. The youth use Instagram merely as a tool to self-express and solely focus on photos that will generate attention. Their posts on Instagram mainly reflect their emotions or use hashtags to attract more followers. Teenagers want large audiences and more of a way to emphasize on the popularity status amongst their group. Internet celebrities have risen from amassing large followers and posting consistently to maintain their brand. As a result, other teens are also pressured to follow the same. We live in the era of the ‘’perfect selfie’’. Teens spend a generous amount of time in taking the perfect photos at the perfect places and find captions that will surely boost their brand. In doing so, most teenagers opt to alter or create new identities that will allow them to gain more likes and followers.

 

This identifies that teenagers can decide how they want to be represented to the online community. This can be in the form of their avatars which is usually the new identity they have created on their chosen online platform (Pearson, 2009). Pearson (2009), argues that these behavioral changes exist in the imagination of users. This means that, the user merely uses social networking sites as tools to project and constantly improvise or revise their online presence. It is also observed that by doing this, users meticulously plan and stage what their identities should look like when they’re presented to the virtual community.

 

Teenagers can alter or create new identities through their choices of usernames, photos and online behavior while communicating with other users online. Instagram has become an online community where only the best photographers and only accounts which have a massive following can thrive. Teens find it needful to step up their photography skills just to be able to get likes and followers. It has also become a dangerous addiction where teens are willing to spend any amount of time just to get the right photo which may ultimately bring in some new followers. They are obsessive over the idea of portraying how they want to be perceived online and in return they are drifting away from the real society. The time teens spend on Instagram is roughly 25 minutes per day. This translates that teens spend an average of 8 months using Instagram in their lifetime (Asano, 2017).

 

With YouTube, behavioral traits are quite varied. The pressure of maintaining an online brand and personality is even greater than that of Instagram.  Youtubers have a reputation at stake. They are just like celebrities but the only difference is that they get to choose how they want to be perceived. Youtubers spend countless hours in creating videos and understanding their audiences’ tastes. Therefore, it is crucial for a Youtuber to maintain good quality videos on their channels. Youtubers at the beginning would film their videos with a simple video recorder. Today, youtubers have professional teams, use industry standard equipment and shoot at well know studios and production houses. YouTube videos have become extremely professional even if a lot of viewers do not get to witness what goes on behind the scenes of shooting a YouTube video. YouTube is the largest video platform and can shape society.

 

YouTube gave rise to the term ’Vlogging’. It is the process where users video blog their experiences and post it on YouTube rather than writing and posting it on a blog. Studies have showed that vloggers and their viewers can have a sense of connection between the two parties (Wesch, 2008). Certain YouTubers have had to completely change identities or renew themselves to able to appeal to an audience or to generate views. Moreover, makeup tutorials and beauty channels have created a new environment where viewers are expected to follow the same. Teenagers fit the right targeted audience to follow these trends of what is popular now. Teenagers behavioral traits can be attributed to certain negative events that can shape long lasting effects. In 2014, a United Arab Emirates court convicted 8 people over a documentary video. The video was aimed at teenagers living in the UAE and insinuated a gangster culture that is supposedly rising amongst teens. The matter of concert was that the video was perceived as defaming the teenage demographic and fear of disturbing the state security (BBC, 2013).

 

Teenagers have made social networking sites as a place to grow and develop according to how they want. Social class and race play a very little role in determining which sector of the demographic use these sites (Dannah, 2007). Poor teens are also more likely to join the virtual community of Instagram and Youtube as their wealthier counterparts. However, behavioral traits in identity change highly depends on what the teens do online. Those who use social networking sites in schools, use them as a more asynchronous method to connect. Those who use them continuously at home, spend more time modifying their identities, surfing the web and maintaining their online presence.

 

Self-identity is easily changed amongst teens. Spending time on social media such as Instagram, can lead to uses feeling jealous or insecure. Identity is then evaluated through the number of likes, followers or subscribers that have been received. As a result, teenagers spend a lot of time online to modify or create new identities that will be appealing. It is therefore really important to recognize the power of social media pertaining to how it can alter identities amongst teens and that it should not be allowed to define who we are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blbliography

Asano, E. (2017, January 4). 1. Retrieved from socialmediatoday.com: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic

 

Baron, C. (2017). The Statistics Portal. Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/250176/social-network-usage-of-us-teens-and-young-adults-by-age-group/

 

Boyd, D. (2007). Why Youth (Heart) Social Networking Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning- Youth, Identity And Digital Media Volume. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press.

 

Donath, J. S. (n.d.). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved from MIT Media Lab: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

 

Gordon, K. (n.d.). Instagram. Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/topics/1882/instagram/

 

Gordon, K. (n.d.). Youtube. Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/topics/2019/youtube/

 

Hynes, N. and Wilson, J. 2016. I do it, but don’t tell anyone! Personal values, personal and      social norms: Can social media play a role in changing pro-environmental behaviours. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 111: pp. 349-359

 

Pearson, E. (2009). The Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks. All The World Wide Web’s A stage.

 

UAE Court convicts Eight over “Spoof Documentary Video”. (2013, December 23). Retrieved from BBC : http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25495256

 

Walrave, M., Ponnet, K., Vanderhoven, E., & Haers, J. (2016). Youth 2.0: Social Media and Adolescence. Springer International Publishing.

Abstract

This paper explores several articles that report on result from research conducted on how Facebook is ruining our real identity. The articles show how Facebook is ruining our identity in different forms. The article of Mehdizadeh (2010) demonstrates how the target for some now in their use of Facebook ends up being the way by which they can curry affirmation, status, being celebrated and, by development, certainty through their profiles and postings. This paper examines Jabee and Afshar (2016) to suggest that there were more than 148,000 setbacks of personality burglaries in the UK in 2015, differentiated and ideal around 94,500 of each 2014. Facebook has made individuals lose a few fellowships and overlook how to collaborate with others up close and personal. It can be argued that Facebook has been ruining our real identity by changing people’s self-esteem as it makes them to think what people are thinking about them. Facebook user’s identities are in danger as their personal information are being stolen by hackers which is causing lots of problems nowadays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook is ruining our real identity

INTRODUCTION

Social media site is a famous type of communicating with companions around the bend and around the world. It has turned out to be one of the best types of communications even over the mobile phones. Like innovation, our species has adjusted to fit present day times. Through these adjustments, we have started to impart through our recently created innovation by methods for online networking. In the present society, we are encompassed by social media sites, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and different sites that can customarily devour our lives. The world is closer and more associated due in no little part to social media sites, and loved ones a huge number of miles away are yet a tick away. Anybody with an email account and an Internet connection can transform Facebook into a soapbox and this social media platform has featured worldwide governmental issues and made nearby groups more tightly. With around 350 million dynamic users, Facebook is a standout amongst the most famous networking site ever (Valenzuela, Correa & Gil de Zúñiga, 2017). While it might have advantages, for example, interfacing one with companions, it might likewise have exceptionally negative impacts that could be irreversible. At a speedy look, Facebook might be seen as a captivating and pleasant site, yet the addictions that occasionally emerge from abuse connect to lethal impacts. In this conference paper, it will be shown how Facebook has been ruining our real identity as it brings the world together. People’s real identities are in danger in this virtual world as their self-esteem are being destroy by making them think what people believe or talk about them and also their identity are being stolen by other people for dangerous activities. Also Facebook is detaching users from their digital persona is another way of how their real identities are being affected.

1. FACEBOOK IS DESTROYING SELF-ESTEEM

Social media sites are not simply taking your information and spreading false news, in the present day online networking is making us paranoid, envious and harder to interface with. Facebook was at first set up to have just a single sort of “companion,” so every individual you acknowledged as a companion would see the greater part of your posts. For the last number of years, the site has been extending its alternatives for arranging by “close friends,” “colleagues,” and different groups, for example, those in light of region or school friends, so users can shape their news feeds and make focused on postings (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011). Some new social issues have risen because of these merged groups of friends. Would it be advisable for a Facebook user to tag his companion “JONH” in a photograph he posted on Facebook in the event that he realize that his companion Ben disdains her? In the event that he doesn’t tag her, will she be affronted? Regardless of whether he don’t post an update, does he has to request that John not tag him in one of her updates since he is worried about Ben’s conceivable response? All these types of questions keep copping up on a Facebook user’s mind. Also Facebook has made us move far from communicating our self-identities and toward developing facades in view of the responses to these questions, “By what means will others take a look at me?” and “How might I guarantee that others see me positively?” The objective for some now in their utilization of Facebook turns out to be the manner by which they can curry acknowledgment, status, being famous and, by expansion, confidence through their profiles and postings (Mehdizadeh, 2010). Mindfulness and self-expression offer approach to impression administration and self-advancement.

The cruel truth is that the majority of us are simply searching for validation. We simply need a group of individuals to “like” our post. It influences us to feel imperative. It influences us to feel well known. You cherish hearing that a notification come in. You cherish standing out enough to be noticed. You cherish the sentiment endorsement that accompanies every single “like” your new post receives. The issue is that Facebook enables you to “enjoy” this intuition without any difficulty. And after that you get dependent. You “require” to feel this validation now and again to like yourself… You start to depend on “likes” keeping in mind the end goal to be sure (Kariou, Antoniou, Bebetsos & Athanasios, 2016). When you’re exhausted, or anxious, checking your telephone gives you a comment. However, in the event that you’re always perusing through photographs, sending messages, or contemplating what to post straightaway, you can never really be locked in with what you’re doing. Your brain will dependably be wandering. You’ll never have the capacity to hang out with companions, watch a film, or go out on the town without worrying about checking your telephone. And this will keep you from being a sure, grounded man (Andreassen, Pallesen & Griffiths, 2017). Confidence comes when you connect with completely with what you’re doing and act without considering or second-speculating yourself. Be that as it may, in case you’re dependent via Facebook, at that point it will be about difficult to accomplish a completely certain, current situation with mind. You will dependably have that “desire” to see the most recent updates.

2. FACEBOOK IS RUINING OUR IDENTITY BY GIVING RISE IN IDENTIFY THEFTS

Hackers are progressively utilizing social networking sites, for example, Facebook for prompting enormous ascent in identity fraud. The quantity of casualties of data fraud ascended by 57 computers a year ago, Cifas, the fraud prevention service, said. There were in excess of 148,000 casualties in the UK in 2015, contrasted and right around 94,500 of every 2014 (Jabee & Afshar, 2016). Fraudsters frequently trawl online networking destinations to discover individual data, for example, your name, date of birth, address and name of your bank. They will accumulate the data in various ways, including hacking if an organization that holds data about you doesn’t ensure its information appropriately. They will likewise utilize web-based social networking to “put the bits of somebody’s character together”. With the expanded worldwide utilization of social networking sites, there are more open doors than any other time in recent memory to take characters or execute misrepresentation on the web. For instance, information posted on Facebook and numerous other online networking destinations can be utilized by offenders. On the off chance that you post that you’re away in the midst of a vacation, you’ve opened yourself up for theft. On the off chance that you specify that you’re away on business for an end of the week, you may leave your family open to attack or burglary. With regards to stalking or taking a personality, utilization of photograph and video-sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube give further bits of knowledge into you, your family and companions, your home, most loved side interests and interests (Nosko, Wood & Molema, 2010). Regardless of whether you delete your Facebook account and cut yourself off from online networking sites, there’s likely sufficiently still data about you out there to help the hackers get to your budgetary life. Free games and quizzes appear like fun, however ordinarily their motivation is to steal data about you and your companions. Identity tests on Facebook. Numerous are set up by character criminals to get individual data about you.

After some time, Facebook affects singular prosperity, rising awful emotions on an opportunity to-time premise and reduction fulfilment of life. One of the primary reasons is fake identity. A report has stated that around 83 million profiles from various one billion were not genuine profiles (Demange, 2010). It is to be featured that a person’s actual personality is the thing that separates and recognize one’s self on the planet. It is molded through the impacts of religion, culture, encounters and individuals in a single’s life However, Facebook has to a great degree empowered fake personality, which are thus reassuring the digital dangers and ruining genuine characters of individuals. Digital threats are e-borne acts; they can possibly influence a computer or system frameworks or even their information or honesty. One of the fundamental illustrations that will be considered as for the exchange of fake character and digital dangers is digital stalking. Digital stalking might be thought to be where one can steal the client’s personality by distributing purposeful publicity about the client as far as photographs or content to pornhubs. One case is a “requital porn stalker” who utilized private photographs which was saved money on a memory card making a phony profile of his ex and transferred “unequivocal” photographs of her. This prompted the ex’s endeavour to suicide. The fake introduction in this manner demonstrates a fake character overshadowed the genuine personality in the above case through Facebook (Wu, Chou, Tseng, Lee & Chen, 2017). Hereby, it can be expressed that genuine character has been dissolved with the nearness of individuals who claims to be the client on acclaimed SNS among which Facebook is one.

3. FACEBOOK IS DETACHING US FROM DIGITAL PERSONA

Facebook won’t be a positive impact in a person’s life in the event that it is being utilized as a genuine expansion of their real identity. It is a personality that is as of now delicate to genuine ecological powers and mental hindrances and can be entertaining. Facebook can be fine, on the off chance that users treat it like what it is at its centre and nothing more. It isn’t worked for depth, riveting exchange and common talk. It is particularly not worked for significant social personality. This social media tool is worked to share goodies of data, pictures and memes. It is for keeping free tabs on individuals we don’t generally have room schedule-wise to become more acquainted with on a more profound level. Getting it done Facebook is a façade where we consent to not consider excessively important, in light of the fact that we comprehend our real life identity runs considerably more profound than a photo and two or three updates (Hevern, 2011).  Facebook is enticing people to assemble ‘mediated associations’ with screens, gadgets, the cloud and soon, by means of expanded and virtual reality, as opposed to with genuine individuals that are directly before our noses. Facebook has astutely changed real human fellowship with a relatively dark mirror type simulation that is a sort of virtual reality that sustains off the human requirement for positive confirmation. Facebook has moved toward becoming precisely the inverse of social since there is literally nothing social around an algorithmic meta-brain whose exclusive concern is to get inside our heads and control our reasoning with the goal that it and its promoters can pitch more stuff to us.

In a national study directed from 2010 – 2015, young people by and large spend over 7.5 hours utilizing Facebook a day (Tsay-Vogel, Shanahan & Signorielli, 2016). With various types of media having a powerful impact in a youths’ life, their apparent social standards are genuinely affected. Teenagers are impacted by the content they are uncovered, concerning their insight about the world, their states of mind and values, and their conduct. The attention to Visual ID is posted all over online networking sites and is spread all around magazines and television programs, in the wake of taking a gander at a few numbers. Researchers have discovered that up to 73% of young lady’s utilization social networking sites and I do feel that there are a great deal of risks in the wake of taking a gander at these insights and how simple it is for youngsters to get to this data and the simplicity high school girls need to mirror their role models (Oberst, Wegmann, Stodt, Brand & Chamarro, 2017). Many individuals endeavour to make another self through social networking sites. With applications like Facebook, individuals attempt to make a veneer of themselves. They do things they wouldn’t do in reality, another identity is framed to seem as though somebody extraordinary. You at that point lose your trust of individuals on the web; however for a man whose lost, online networking can be an outlet to let everything go namelessly. There are individuals who can state whatever they need to the world without feeling excessively condemned. A few people utilize this unknown energy to assault other individuals (Arteaga Sánchez, Cortijo & Javed, 2014). For the general population who utilize it as a type of articulation, it enables them to have the security of demonstrating their interests without the inclination that they will be oppressed.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, Facebook has caused people to lose some friendships and forget how to interact with others face-to-face. It can be argued that Facebook has been ruining our real identity by changing people’s self-esteem as it makes them to think what people are thinking about them. Also Facebook hacks is leading to rise in identity thefts and Facebook is detaching us from digital persona. This has prompted individuals overlooking meaningful gestures and getting to be unbalanced. That as well as thought that it was harder to make companions in view of Facebook. There might be some good parts of Facebook and other online networking sites yet the good is exceeded by the bad. There are an excessive number of negative things that originate from the use and introduction to Facebook or any online networking site. Every good thing accompany a cost and the cost of Facebook is too huge for all the terrible things that accompany it.

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