SOCIAL MEDIA AND IDENTITY

In preparation for the summer exam, let us read Mark Dixon (MediaMagazine December 2015) and see how his theoretical frameworks help us analyse representations of British Asians. The start of the article is below...

Social Media: Identity Heaven or Identity Hell?

Mark Dixon looks at critical and theoretical responses to Web 2.0 technology, particularly social media, in the context of the exam requirements for... ‘Media and Identities’ topic. 

All A Level Media specifications include the study of representations of identity – a tricky area to investigate, which will differ according to your awarding organisation... The key to producing a successful response lies in understanding that the media no longer works as a unidirectional force, but that we, the audience, are media producers too – that social media, user-generated content, Web 2.0, or whatever else you want to call it, now allows us to construct and circulate our own personal and social identities in new and diverse ways.
 
The question that a successful case study has to determine is the effect that this new social media dynamic has upon identity construction. In a world where technology dominates our every waking moment, it’s easy to identify both positive and negative impacts. Theoretically speaking, we can divide those positive and negative effects into two broad viewpoints: cyber-utopianism and cyber-dystopianism. The former view extols the internet as a driver for social good, allowing society to become more inclusive; the latter sees our attachments to new technology as restricting and dangerous.

Mark Dixon develops points related to:

• Cyber-utopianism and Participation: Negroponte, Gauntlett and Jenkins

• Cyber-utopian Identities: Turkle and Giddens

• Cyber-dystopianism: Sunstein and Martin