Blog Post #3: My Online Identity

On Twitter, Nicole pointed out Willett’s claim that SNS users felt they’d socialize less online and more in person as they get older. I thought this was an extremely interesting point, as while I have never really thought about it, I definitely have scaled-down my social media sites and usage as I have gotten older.

 

Of course, some of this may have to do with (as mentioned by Nicole) the different structures of SNS sites that I have switched to as I got older. For example, I also used the “helper” sites to give my MySpace a cool background, and I’m pretty sure my Xanga had not only a decked-out background but music and a flashy avatar on it as well. One of the reasons I switched over to Facebook was that I really enjoyed the basic layout of it (and I was notoriously terrible at keeping up with posting on Xanga). Taking away some of the flash associated with those sites fit my SNS “style” more—even on my earliest SNS profiles, I have never been one to share any personal details, with my “about me” and “interest” sections consistently blank. I swear I am being honest when I say it really isn’t due to a fear of being judged but more about not really seeing the point. I understand that having shared interests may open me up to finding new friends, but my use of social networking sites has never really been about making new friends. While I know it’s unavoidable that my profile will give an impression of me, I have always just felt that my likes/dislikes and relationship status are my business—of course, if someone asks me, I will answer, but I just don’t feel a need to share them with the Internet community.

 

Of course, not sharing much personal information has also allowed me to have to update my profiles less. I don’t have to cater as much to my changing interests (or relationship statuses)! When I say I was more involved as a teen, I mean that I used these sites much more for actual social experiences. There were certain people I would interact with frequently on MySpace that I therefore considered to be close friends, though I may not have had any sort of interpersonal communication with them in years, such as friends from camp. I would come home from school and go almost immediately online to continue conversations I had started during the day and to upload and monitor the pictures posted of me. I think I was most concerned about my identity being shaped by the photos of me, which I believed would really prove what sort of person I was more than my interests since it was an actual, physical representation of the person I was offline.

 

Today, I use social networking sites in a much more cursory way—I rarely update my profile pictures, block all of my tagged photos, and tend to have actual conversations less. My Facebook is my most personal profile, so I still do use that to interact with friends, but it is definitely more about sharing fun links or utilizing the event and group messaging functions than trying to maintain actual conversations.

 

Aside from the more rigid structure of Facebook compared to MySpace, I believe a large reason SNS sites become less important for social interaction as teens get older is the growing number of other ways there are to “hang out.” boyd brings this up in “Why Youth <3 SNS: The Role of Networked Public in Teenage Social Life,” explaining that society does not offer many options for teens to socialize, so the Internet is able to provide them with a new “social realm” (boyd, 136). Coming from a small suburban town, I definitely believe the Internet took the place of a “hang out”—there were very few spots that welcomed teens to gather, so the Internet was integral to my social life.

 

However, now that I am old enough to have not only an active social life but also responsibilities to attend to aside from classes, I cannot imagine putting that much time and effort into my online persona. I would now say my identity on SNS is much less about trying to portray a specific image of myself and much more simply a compilation of posts and updates performed when I have time. Since I am less dependent on maintaining friendships through Facebook, I also pay significantly less attention to the upkeep of it.

 

Colleen

 

@colleenhagerty