Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This research\npaper explores the influence of the Internet in shaping the users\u2019 identities\nand the effects it has on adolescents who are in the process of figuring out\ntheir identities and their self-image. It focuses on the effects the Internet\nhas on the self-image of the users in terms of their gender, race and political\nviews. It is based on the research done on the ecologies of online chat rooms\nby Subrahmanyam, Smahel, Greenfield (2006) who conducted experiments to study\nthe interactions of users in monitored and un-monitored chatrooms; as well as\nresearch conducted by Valkenburg, Schouten and Peter (2005) on the trends of\nself-representation that are used by both genders and different age groups. It\nalso investigates the role of the Internet in terms of representation of race,\nlanguage and political views, and how the Internet has been a means for users\nto voice their opinions and views online, in cases where governments censor\nmedia content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Internet\u2019s Effect on\nShaping Identities in Terms of Gender, Race and\nCommunities<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nInternet provides the outlet people need to portray their identities to others.\nThe expansive variety of Web 2.0 platforms provides every Internet user a\nplatform that they feel most comfortable to use. An individual\u2019s personality\nwill determine the type of platform they are most attracted to. However there\nhas been a lot of research suggesting that the Internet has major influence on\nthe development of the user\u2019s personalities. The experiences people go through\nwhen they are online can inspire certain changes within the person\u2019s\npersonality and the image they want to put out. The Internet creates a space\nwhere the users have the power to decide the way they wish to portray\nthemselves using the cover of anonymity, as such we cannot deny that the\nInternet plays a role on the development of a person\u2019s identity, particularly\nwhen it comes to the way they represent themselves in terms of their gender,\nrace and their communal identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representation\nof Gender Online<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nway a person represents their self-image can be impacted by their surroundings,\nand this also applies in the virtual world. As described by Baumeister (1998) \u201cSelf-presentation\nis defined as people\u2019s attempts to convey information about, and images of, the\nself and its identities to others\u201d (Valkenburg, Schouten and Peter 2005). The platforms people join can play a big role\nin changing the image they put out of themselves. When it comes to gender, we\nnotice a variety of ways that people present themselves, we can divide gender\nrepresentation online into two categories. The first category is the\ngender-neutral approach and the second is a gendered approach. To explain these\ntwo approaches, we can use the example of the usernames people use on platforms.\nSome may use their name which in most cases can give an indication to what the\nuser\u2019s gender is, on the other hand people who wish to keep their online\nidentities somewhat private tend to use nicknames. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nValkenburg et al\u2019s (2005) research on the experiments adolescents conduct on\ntheir online identities they found that both men and women use gender-specific\nself-presentational methods when creating their pages. It is important for both\nmen and women to present their femininity and masculinity in real life, but the\nsame applies to their virtual identities where we see most men use their pages\nto present a tough and confident image. On the other hand, women use their\npages to present themselves as nice and attractive. We can also see how both\ngenders gravitate towards different types of platforms depending on their\ncomfort levels with each platform. This is supported by the study Kaveri,\nSmahel and Greenfield (2006) conducted using two types of chatrooms, monitored\nchat room and a non-monitored chatroom. Both chatrooms had a mix of kids from\nages 10 to 24. Kaveri et al, found that younger and female participants\ngravitated more towards the monitored chat rooms while the older male\nparticipants gravitated towards the unmonitored chat rooms. Apart from their\nselection of chatrooms, participants also presented their gender identities\nthrough their nicknames. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Race\nOnline<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\never-growing features of the Internet facilitate the user\u2019s representation of\ntheir race. Features like emojis that come in a range of skin colours and also\nreflect ethnicities through emojis with headscarves or the dancing Spanish\ngirl; make it easier for users to describe themselves. In some platforms users\ncan even create avatars of themselves and choose the features of their avatars\nto either mirror their true features like hair colour, eye colour and so on.\nHowever, some users choose to create an avatar of what they wish they looked\nlike or an avatar with features they feel would be accepted. This can include\nthe colour of skin where darker coloured users choose a lighter skinned avatar,\nthinking that it would allow them to fit in better with the other users. Lisa\nNakamura (2002) explains \u201cWhen users\u2019 characters, or \u201cavatars,\u201d are differently\nraced from the user, the opportunity for online recreational passing or\n\u201cidentity tourism\u201d arises\u201d. On the other hand, the Internet provides an\nopportunity for anonymity. The fact that the other users cannot see the person\nbehind the screen and can only view what the user wants them to see brings an\nopportunity for the user to be judged based on their personality and opinions\nthey choose to put online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another example is the case of the racism on\nonline platforms we can reference the incident of Adam Goodes the Australian\nindigenous player in the Australian Football League team, who was in the\nreceiving end of racial discrimination on Facebook and Twitter. As Ariadna\nMatamoros-Fernandez (2017) explains \u201cplatformed racism unfolded in the Adam\nGoode\u2019s controversy as the entanglement between users\u2019 practices to disguise\nand amplify racist humor and abuse, and the contribution of platforms\u2019 features\nand algorithms in the circulation of overt and covert hate speech.\u201d This\nsupports the notion that the Internet\u2019s tracking of users\u2019 online identities\nand digital footprint can be used as a catalyst for online racism. As the\ninformation that users put on their homepages or the content that they share\ncan reflect their position in terms of other races. For example, some users do\nnot have an issue with voicing their racist opinions on other people\u2019s content.\nThis is how online racism takes place and how the Internet can either influence\npeople to hide their true identity in terms of race, or on the other hand, it\ncan be a catalyst for people who have slight racist tendencies to use the\nidentity protection the Internet can provide to become more confident in\nvoicing their opinions on other people\u2019s profiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Communal\nIdentity Online<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis human nature for any individual to feel the need to belong, the various\nplatforms of the Internet offer users a way for them to satisfy that need.\nUsers can achieve this by engaging with a group of people who share the same\nideals as them. These mutual ideals can be regarding language, religion,\npolitical views or the users could simply belong to the same community. For\nexample language is the most straightforward way that people present themselves\nto others. It is not just what they say and the tone they say it in that gives\ninsight as to who they are, but also the language they use. For example, the\nInternet brings together people from around the world that have a common\nlanguage, this common language is what brings them together and creates an\nonline community. As most computers offer multi-lingual options, users are able\nto voice their opinions and present their content in their native tongue, and\nthen share this content and create a bond with other users. For people that are\nmulti-lingual the Internet provides them options to switch back and forth\nbetween the languages they use. For example, an individual can share content\nonline in Spanish and thus develop his\/her online presence in groups and online\ncommunities that share the same background and speak the same language. While\non the other hand that same user can switch to talking in English and feel like\nhe\/she belongs to a wider community. Mark Warschauer (2001) says \u201cthrough\nchoices of language and dialect, people constantly make and remake who they\nare\u201d to explain this we can say that people use their language as a way of\nrepresenting their identities. The Internet allows for people to keep in touch\nwith other users from the same communities as well as to keep their native\nlanguage alive. A Hawaiian student called Iolanie explained to Warschauer that\ntheir teacher encouraged them to translate their research into their native\nlanguage and post their work online so other Hawaiian students can find and use\nthe Hawaiian transcripts instead of the English versions. Warschauer explains\nin his paper that this process allowed the students to feel that they have\ncontributed to the reservation of the Hawaiian language and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nInternet does not only strengthen the user\u2019s communal identity via the spoken\nlanguage but also through the political content that gets shared online. For\nexample, there is not a lot of restrictions that platform creators apply to\ntheir platforms. In most platforms political views are allowed, to a certain\nextent. While some platforms choose to censor certain political views when they\nbecome extreme others allow their users to express their opinions freely. This\nlack of censorship provides Internet users access to political views that would\nhave not been allowed on TV or in public due to being prohibited by the\ngovernment. This gives users a better chance at developing their own opinions\nabout politics and government work. It also gives them the confidence to voice\ntheir agreement or disagreement with other people\u2019s views. The fact that they\nshare the same views with a larger group of people can often give users\nconfidence and conviction that their opinion is the right one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nTurkey social media played a big role in users protesting against certain\ngovernmental policies. When the government applied censorship on media outlets\nand prevented them from producing content that contradicted their values,\nsocial media was the platform the Turkish people used to show their\ndisagreements with the way things were going as well as a place to organize\nevents and demonstrations against the government. Tuge Gulsen (2014) describes\nplatforms such as Facebook and Twitter as tools the Turkish people were using\nto show their resistance as well as to voice their political engagement. In\nTurkey only, the Pew Research Center reported that %81 of Internet users were\nusing social media and that the users belonged to the age range of 18 to 29\n(Gulsen 2014). This shows how widespread\nsocial media usage is in Turkey and its importance for shaping the identities\nof Turkey\u2019s young adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Internet has proven to be an integral part of any individual\u2019s life, as its usage varies from educational usage to recreational. The Pew Research Center revealed that the content users share on social media is %67 music and movies, %46 community issues, %43 sports, %34 politics and %14 religion (Gulsen 2014). These statistics prove the importance of the Internet on shaping a person\u2019s identity as it provides platforms for users to engage with other people about common interests. Since young adults also have access to the Internet and to platforms that connect them to anyone in the world and also exposes them to what is happening in the world from wars to new cultures, we can see that it plays an important role on shaping their personalities and identities. It gives its users the chance to gain access to material that peaks their interest and would otherwise be inaccessible to them. This access allows them to reshape the opinions that were instilled in them from their community or families. It creates a chance for them to form their own opinions and see different points of view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/p>\n\n\n\n G\u00fcl\u015fen,\nT. (2014). Turkish Youth\u2019s (Re)Construction of their Political Identity in\nSocial Media, before \u201cResistanbul\u201d. Advances In Social Networking And\nOnline Communities<\/em>, 1-22. doi: 10.4018\/978-1-4666-5150-0.ch001<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matamoros-Fernandez,\nA. (2017). Platformed racism: the mediation and circulation of an Australian\nrace-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Information,\nCommunication & Society<\/a>, 20<\/em>(6), 930-946 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/1369118X.2017.1293130<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nakamura, L.\n(2002). Cybertypes<\/em>. New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subrahmanyam, K. & Smahel, D. &\nGreenfield, P. (2006). Connecting Developmental Constructions to the Internet: Identity\nPresentation and Sexual Exploration in Online Teen Chat Rooms. Developmental\nPsychology<\/em>, 42(3), 395-406<\/p>\n\n\n\n Valkenburg,\nP., Schouten, A., & Peter, J. (2005). Adolescents\u2019 identity experiments on\nthe internet. New Media & Society<\/em>, 7(3), 383-402. doi:\n10.1177\/1461444805052282<\/p>\n\n\n\n Warschauer<\/a>, M. (2001) Language, identity, and the Internet. Mot Pluriels,\n19<\/em> as retrieved from http:\/\/www.arts.uwa.edu.au\/MotsPluriels\/MP1901mw.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abstract This research paper explores the influence of the Internet in shaping the users\u2019 identities and the effects it has on adolescents who are in the process of figuring out their identities and their self-image. It focuses on the effects the Internet has on the self-image of the users in terms of their gender, race… Continue reading The Internet\u2019s Effect on Shaping Identities in Terms of Gender, Race and Communities by Hanan Elmir<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}