the influence of internet on individual identity

The study seeks to assess the influence of internet on individual identity.

The author acknowledges the change in computer and internet technology and its impact on the social set up and the individual perception of oneself. The article explains the various ways through which personal identity has been affected, the merits and demerits of the influence.

1. Virtual personality

2. Virtual identity in stages of life

3.  Cyberspace enhances perspectives and understanding

Content: Internet platforms enable users to create their profiles by text.

Function: Self-description gives the user time to analyze their traits. By anonymity, one can develop personas with characters they choose. The personas can have untrue characteristics from their real personalities. The persona may use a different name, location, behavior and physical appearance. In this way, one body can represent oneself in many distinct personas, thus multiplicity and flexibility. The user gets relief, dissolution and sometimes discover themselves in the process.

Content: Virtual space causes psychological impacts on identity development

Function: Social media platforms offer an alternative audience to people in their moratorium stage. In this stage of life, individuals have high propensity to socialize and experiment aspects such as affection and sex. Individuals gear their actions to solve internal conflicts, resolve dissatisfaction in behavior and discover new traits. Most activities are done haphazardly with little consideration of their long term impacts. When the real world fails to provide the environment for experimentation, young people make it up with the internet.

Content: Virtual impersonation improves understanding.

Function: Adopting different personas comes with acquiring a more comprehensive view of things. Presenting oneself in the personality one naturally feels intimidated about helps them cope up with the trait. The real person gets to experiment, learn the consequences and pick from the array of roles they play. It helps them in solving actual problems in the real world. Fragments of identity depicting different dynamic traits give comfort to the individual. The internet has also dissolved ego and is now considered as a member of the community of personas. However, the idea of individuals as a decentralized unit is antagonized by perceptions of  persons self as illusion and as reality”.