Representing ourselves - identity in the online age

1) Read the article and summarise each section in one sentence, starting with the section 'Who are you?'

'Who are you?'

The first section ''Who are you?'' describes how people make everyday decisions based on how they want other people to see them eg we will dress in a different way depending on who were meeting or where were going that day. it also states that we have a view of how we currently are and how we want to be and how we want people to see us.

'I think therefore i am'
This section states that in the past we used to define ourselves through very different aspects to the ones we do now such as  class, religion, gender and the predetermined roles. this section explains that we were defined by our family and the social class we was born into so therefore we was defined by what society had socially constructed.''This was a time where the notion of the individual was less central than it is now is. We were part of a number of collectives and self-image was based on the success we had at meeting the expectations that came with a predefined role based on our class group, our family, our church, our profession'' this shows that we were defined by society in groups and people had less individuality then we do now as the creation of social media has allowed people to separate themselves from family and friends and create their own social profile which gave them more freedom.

'From citizen to consumer'

The consumer boom was based on convincing people that it was no longer enough simply to buy what you needed to survive, essentially the idea of creating wants and desires.

'The rise of the individual'

During the second half of the 20th century, people began defining themselves as individuals, and so wanted to express their ‘difference’ and ‘uniqueness’; they were empowered by being encouraged to ‘be themselves’.

'Branding and lifestyle' 

Branding is the association of a ‘personality' with a product. 

'Who will we be?'

Social networking sites allow participants to create a public image of themselves to be consumed as a media product by others – and this is part of the appeal.

2) List five brands you are happy to be associated with and explain how they reflect your sense of identity.

• Nike
• Apple
• North-face
• Adidas
• Puma

3) Do you agree with the view that modern media is all about 'style over substance'? What does this expression mean?

I agree to quite a large extent that modern media is all about 'style over substance' which means people value the appearance of something over what it contains/ the content of it. This is because mainly in the youth population they young adults 
around the age of  15-20 would rather have something with style for example designer clothing rather than an item with value or meaning this is because nowadays people value the opinion of their peers more than their own or their families due to the introduction of modern media such as Instagram and snap chat as people would like to get praised and likes for people they may not even know more than their own family members.

4) Explain Baudrillard's theory of 'media saturation' in one paragraph. 

The increasing dominance of the mass media and what Baudrillard calls ‘media saturation’ results in high cultural value being placed on external factors such as physical beauty and fashion sense over internal traits such as intelligence or compassion.

5) Is your presence on social media an accurate reflection of who you are? Have you ever added or removed a picture from a social media site purely because of what it says about the type of person you are?
i think that what we post on social media isn't a reflection on who we are as people only post what they want others to see and this may be an inaccurate representation as 

6) What is your opinion on 'data mining'? Are you happy for companies to sell you products based on your social media presence and online search terms? Is this an invasion of privacy?