Essay Sample on Digital Identity: How Tech Is Shaping Self-Perception

Introduction

Digital technology, social media, and new media are increasingly developing to suit the needs of the users who rely on these platforms to boost their identity. Identity can be altered and greatly exaggerate rated while in real life, this is not possible. Technology development has greatly influenced the way people form their identities. Technology is affecting self-identity because of features that help in enhancing the looks.

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Personal identity is very crucial, and each one should have a unique identity. The developments in technology are affecting people's identity greatly (Taylor). The development of technology is expanding our social worlds since we can communicate and interact with people who are far away from us. These people influence our identity in one way or the other. Technology is altering self-identity by shifting personal identity from internal drive to external drive. Before the emergence and widespread use of technology, self-identity were influenced by factors such as peers, parents, communities, schools as well as mainstream media. Nowadays, the technology is affecting people's identity both positively and negatively. People are concerned with how they are perceived in the social media platform. Who they are on the media platforms and real life is different.

The uniqueness of an individual is essential, and it is what defines the self-identity (Taylor). The development of technology has negatively influenced the development, so self-identity is no longer about how we perceive ourselves but how the popular culture dictates us to be. What is portrayed in popular culture is far much distinct from what we really should be. Self-identity is gradually being lost, and people are living their lives expecting approval from the society and media users. This has adverse effects, such as suicide due to cyberbullying. Technological development is, therefore, not only affecting the self-identity but well misused is ruining the lives.

Self-identity is being lost because people want to live a fake life. What the social media users do not know what they see in social media platforms is mostly fake, and the life they want to live in is not wanted their influencers live in real life. Social media influencers have influenced identity formation sine they post admirable pictures and videos (Holstein, 2018). Some people want to live the life of social media influencers, which is expensive. Social media users post pictures and videos while they are inexpensive hotels, driving the best car, using the latest phones as well as wearing designer clothes. Without awareness, one may experience the pressure of living such a life without knowing that the content is sponsored. Some people want to live a life such as that of the influencer, so they end up buying the brand they see. The effects are more severe when the person cannot afford the brands as they will do anything to purchase them. By buying these items, you benefit both the company producing these brands as well as the influencer.

`The things that we end up buying when we see them on the media platforms are not the ones we need. We, therefore, end up forgetting who is and losing our identity. When you want to live a social media life, you embrace all the things that you admire from the person. Living a fake life is very expensive. People are constantly at pressure to live the life they see on the social media platform without knowing that the lives they admire are purely fake (Holstein, 2018). People go on vacations, take good photos and post them to gain a following and appeal to the needs of the audience. The influencers are in business, and every time they post a photo, they do so, ensuring that there is something you can admire from them and subsequently purchase it, thus help him/her get a commission from the company.

The development of technology has also affected the self-image of the people by making them less unappealing. On the social media platforms, the people who get man followers, as well as comments, are those posting pictures with enhanced looks. The influencers, for example, ensure that their skin is flawless, and they are in shape. Such looks entice the people to inquire about what the influencer uses and subsequently purchase it (Holstein, 2018). The technology development has, therefore, altered self-identity formation. People are determined to change their look to match those on the platforms. Those who do not are sometimes bullied based on their looks, and some even omit suicide.

Identity has influenced technology development in different ways; technology is developed to meet the people's needs; hence, the manufacturers have to consider the identity of the users (Baker). The technology manufacturers create the technologies for different target groups; thus, the technology has to comply with the identity of the target group. People are not likely to compromise on their identity to embrace technologies that they buy to meet their different needs. The identity influences the spending habits of the people; hence, manufacturers are eager at developing technologies that will attract people to purchase the technologies that they want to use for different purposes.

Social media is one of the technologies that have influenced and changed the world in a big way, people's dignity has been influenced by social media by influencing how people see the world and the issues that they experience (Baker). The dignity of people has been influenced by social media because everybody wants positive feedback from friends on social media sites; hence, people are behaving and posting materials that they believe will make their friends on social media happy. The dignity of the people changes such that people no longer live the lives that they want; they live lives that social media friends want to see.

The identity of the person influences many things, including the thoughts, behavior, and feelings of the person. The technology is meant to make the work of the people easier and make the person happy. The manufacturers of technology want to satisfy the identity desires of potential customers (Baker). There are identity factors that influence cultural and social factors in the society which influence people a lot. Humans are social beings; hence, they are influenced by what other people think and accept to be; hence, before someone purchases an item, one is likely to think about the comments of the society.

Some technologies are trying to shape the identity of the people by associating the technology with a certain social class in the community. The high-end products such as luxury vehicles and watches have succeeded in creating an identity among the people by associating the products with the upper-class group of people in society. A perception gets created that the people who own the technologies are better; hence, they deserve to be treated differently by society. Identity gets formed among the upper-class group of people in the society that they have to buy expensive technologies to maintain their standards in society.

There is a generational change from the previous generation to the current; the previous generation did not live at a time where there was rampant growth in technology; hence, the technology manufacturers of the time had easer time influencing the people (Baker). Dignity is playing a significant role in determining the innovations being made. Innovators are trying to impress the people by improving the current technologies to meet the needs and desires of the people. Some companies incorporate the feedback from their customers on the changes that they want to see in the next technologies produced by the company.

Identity is also being changed by technology, where people spend most of their time on social media and other digital platforms failing to leave time for people to interact with family members and other people that one lives with (Baker). The online platforms have released statistics that indicate people are spending much of their time on social media, where even people prefer to talk using the networking sites as opposed to verbal communication. There are consequences of over-reliance of technology where people are becoming lazier.

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology development is increasingly affecting identity. The life that people display on social media is completely different from real life. The influencers are paid by brands to market them, and by posting perfect photos, some people buy the brand, thereby benefiting both the company and the influencer. Some people want to make a fake life from the media platforms and live it genuinely. This poses pressure because the majority of these items are luxurious and highly expensive.

Works Cited

Baker, David. "How Identity Has Affected Technology Development." BBC News. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Dec. 2019.

Holstein, M. (2018). Everything on Social Media Is Fake. Retrieved 15 December 2019, from https://medium.com/tech-critical/everything-on-social-media-is-fake-95c0947bbd6b

Taylor, Jim. "Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?" Psychology Today, 2011, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201107/technology-is-technology-stealing-our-self-identities.