On being a digital citizen : A sociological analysis #2
By: Donna Dimech
Tags: Social Media, Sociology

Part of what comes with being a digital citizen has a lot to do with how we present ourselves online. The concept of identity has been changed around quite a lot though to social media and technology.

The way we present ourselves online

Discussing this topic might be a bit touchy. Through the profiles we create online, namely social media, we are giving ourselves an identity through which we interact and engage with one another. It’s a bit different than how we portray ourselves in the ‘real’ world. This is though to the fact that online the individual has much more control over what parts of themselves they wish to show. The concept of selfies and the whole science behind it (which angles work best, lighting, filters) is an example of how much more control one is given online on the way he or she presents themselves.

“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”

This quote is an example of how nowadays online you can be anyone you want. When you meet someone online without ever having met them in the ‘real’ world you have no guarantee that who you’re speaking with is actually who they say they are. In a way, to ‘verify’ their identity the best thing to do is to have a video call with the person. But realistically, online your identity rarely needs that kind of verification, especially on social media.

The MTV series catfish is another example of how nowadays it’s extremely easy to create a fake identity using someone else’s pictures as your own. The series follows people who, naively at times, believe that the person they have been speaking to online is who they say they are without ever having met the person, spoken to them verbally on a call, or a video call to see the person’s face. In some cases, it went as far as people faking they are a well-known celebrity. Even though this series is my guilty pleasure, I am mentioning it for the purpose of giving an example of what I just discussed. It is only one example of how much control the individual has online in regards to their identity.

Impact/power of the individual in the cyber world

So after discussing how much control an individual has online, the best way to explain the level of control is through the concept of power. A lot of sociologists discussed power in relation to different aspects of society. Power can be seen in relation to politics, wealth, religion at times and much more. However, in relation to the cyberworld how is power seen? Well, online a person has a lot of power through the use of their words. Much like in the ‘real’ world people can express their opinion through what they say, online, people communicate and voice their opinions through typing and text. Of course, that is not the only way it is done, considering videos, namely YouTube which became a platform for people to talk about anything, but for this article, we’ll stick to just the keyboard.

So power is exerted through an individual having the freedom to write whatever they wish, much like I am doing right now with this blog. The individual as a digital citizen has rights and sometimes rules they have to abide with when engaging in an online community, so it’s not much different than the real world when you think about it.

However, there are still differences between the two. Emotions for instance, are more difficult to portray online even though emojis attempt at breaking that barrier. An individual ‘hides’ behind the screen without showing their true self.

So with all this mentioned it perhaps gives a better understanding of what is meant by the concept of digital citizen and all that comes with it. Deconstructing the term can open a lot of sub topics, since in the end, the digital world most of us live in, offers so much to anyone that makes part of it.

This blog is a project for Study Unit DGA3008, University of Malta.

References :

-PostModern Theory : Critical Interrogations by Steven Best & Douglas Kellner

-Social Identity by Richard Jenkins

- What is Digital Citizenship?