Personal Identity In Social Media

In a society where everyone is expected to project their personalities on social media for all to see, it’s often hard to know what someone is truly like, and if the part of them we see on one platform is an accurate representation of their identity. Outside sources affect various different parts of your identity, which come together to make a complex whole you. These sources, such as the media and society, law enforcement, and more and more importantly, the Internet, have a lot of power over our personal identities and which parts of ourselves we present to them, which has positive and negative effects.
Being a person of color in America is not easy. Because of how beauty is presented in the media, the larger society holds uniform standards …show more content…
The social network Tumblr is notorious for its “social justice warriors,” but it is a place (for some users, the only place), where people can be themselves. On the Internet, there are many groups of people who decide to positively use their voices in uplifting others. Parts of racial identity, such as dark skin and English used only in the black community are often called ugly and ridiculed by our society, but online, they are celebrated and embraced. These things aren’t limited to racial identity, there are movements of body positivity and sex positivity, and they make people gain more self-respect and self-love. If society pushes you down, then the Internet lifts you up. When people start accepting themselves and others more on the Internet, they take those parts of themselves back into “the real world.” Being present online adds to your identity, and therefore makes you question and try to change the way you are seen by your peers, by society, and by law …show more content…
Not everyone is brave enough to go out and change laws or start a grassroots campaign for more representation in the media. All people pick and choose parts of themselves to show to others. Pressure from the people around us make us hide parts of ourselves from them. If you’re talking to a homophobic person, you probably won’t tell them that you’re gay, and if you’re biracial and white passing, it’s likely that you wouldn’t tell a man who fetishizes “China dolls” that you’re part Vietnamese. In Nella Larsen’s book Passing, Clare Kendry passes as white and has an extremely racist and potentially violent white husband. When Clare’s husband finds out that Clare’s friend Irene is black, Irene considers telling him that his wife isn’t white either but she can’t bring herself to do it because she know it would be really bad for Clare