Reflections that were once fleeting and distorted by water are now constant reminders from a glass screen, yet they remain distorted.

By Rio Bechet – 11th grade.

The word “identity” comes from the Latin identitas, meaning “sameness” or identical, yet the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines identity as “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual”. What “distinguishes” us is what binds us together. Today, social media has become the inadvertent tool that connects people. So how does it play a role in forming our identity? And how is this identity a product of the people we surround ourselves with online?

As social media plays an increasingly prominent role in our lives, we are forced to curate an online digital identity while juggling our offline communications and interactions. It is no secret that people display what is desirable on social platforms, a highly edited, highly idealized version of themselves. So when does self-construction become self-destruction? In a study conducted by Frontiers in Psychology, involving 258 Facebook users, researchers analyzed the consequences of false self-representation. They concluded that distorted digital representation can contribute to a lower sense of self esteem, an increased risk of addiction, and incongruity. 

There is danger in valuing your digital self as more than a representation; an extension of the truth rather than the whole truth. Social media is a compilation of you and the world, it is the sum of the parts that make up the whole, and as we spend time scrolling, it is not ourselves we are examining but other people. Thus, the self examination done through social media is entirely based on subconscious comparison.  In a blog written by Medium, Nicole Sudjuno states that people who post pictures of landscapes are “thoughtful” and “reflective” beings (Sudjono, 2021). The caption of this article is “are you proud, narcissistic, or caring?” Implying that one glance at someone’s Instagram can instantaneously categorize a person. If this is the case, then how does that reflect the quality of our sense of self? No one person is one thing. Identities are heavily nuanced and the danger of digital identities is how what was once nuanced is now labeled. 

Despite this, digital self-representation has benefits, and this labeling can work in our favor.  SIT, Social Identity Theory, is the theory that belonging to certain social groups contributes to your sense of self. Due to our ability to construct an identity, we have a greater chance of attracting like-minded people: it can serve as a tool for connecting to people who align with one’s beliefs. On the other hand, it can induce confirmation bias, establishing echo chambers, bubbles, in which one is stimulated only with beliefs that resonate with them. In the case of a climate conspiracist for example, the algorithm will specifically generate content confirming their climate beliefs, restraining them from accessing other information like scientific research. This is no secret, and as Trump’s 2024 electoral campaign has shown through QAnon and distorted truths, social media can become increasingly radicalized. One’s beliefs are thus reinforced and critical thinking is limited. 

Not to mention the immense scale of social media platforms. Sociological research has concluded that most people cannot intimately know more than 150 people. Tik Tok alone has on average 1 billion active monthly users. As humans, we already struggle to understand ourselves; understanding 1 billion individuals is thus an impossible task. Especially, if these images are void of context. The boxes established by social media can limit our perspective in more ways than one and attempting to replicate these boxed perspectives can lead to real self destruction.

Since the first Homo sapiens that walked this Earth, us humans have been inclined to attribute titles. The dominant man is the alpha male, followed by the more reserved beta, then the delta and so on. Along with those we attribute to others, are those we attribute to ourselves; a mother, an engineer, an introvert etc.. We have come a long way since the first sapiens that walked this Earth, however, our conception of social constructs and identity remain relatively the same. Today we are confronted with the question of online social networks, aka, social media; a reflection of ancient group dynamics and tribal territorialism. To quote Friedrich Nietzsche, “The individual has always had to struggle from being overwhelmed by tribe”. In our modern society, we are thus led to reimagine social constructs as well as our place in relation to them. In a world overstimulated with titles it can be difficult to find nuance, who we want to surround ourselves with, and thus who we are, especially when online social platforms regulate the amount of control you actually maintain.