“Identity” by Benjamin Cudmore

Identity is the perception of one’s self. So what is the essence of identity? Elements of culture such as different types of median can influence one’s identity. Fashion trends exemplify an impact on identity. What is considered fashionable will limit one’s choices in how one dresses. My generation does not wear doublets or silly feather hats when hanging out with friends. The clothes one wears are an extension of one’s identity. When I try to think of someone I know, I typically recall how they dress. So as fashion tastes change, so too does a person’s identity. Taste in music can experience a vast change over time as well. When radio stations or music streaming services play “popular” music, absorbers of this media are subjected to taking in only the songs the radio plays and will begin to enjoy them. As media constantly changes, identity does as well. When looking back at old videos of myself, I recognize that I have changed so much in just a few years from everything that I absorbed and discovered during that time.

Identity is what makes up a person and how they project themselves to the world. In this day and age, media plays a large role in people’s identity. Oftentimes, media influences people in their opinions, fashion choices, and lifestyle choices. When media is constantly displayed to people, telling them what to buy and how to act, after enough time people tend to feed into it. For example, on Instagram or TikTok if popular influencers are promoting a clothing brand and style, a mass amount of people will buy that item and add that to their style. This is just one example of how media influences our identity. Also with social media, people can create identities online, even if it does not align with their identity in real life. It is extremely common for people to create what seems like a perfect life on Instagram to promote their perfect identity to others.

In today’s society, our identity is how we are perceived by others, whether it is on social media or face to face. Social media can falsify people’s identity through photoshop tools, catfishing, and peer pressure. As Myria Georgiou states in the reading, “identity has particular resonance to media and communications”(94), media is known to have an impact on people’s identity whether it be beneficial or harmful. For example, on Instagram there are users with ‘perfect’ bodies or hair or lifestyles; however, for the most part, their life isn’t exactly like their profile shows. Social media glorifies people’s identity, only showing the positive sides causing others to change their identity too to adopt that identity of being ‘perfect’ or a certain image/personality. Everyone’s identity is supposed to be different, that is what makes everyone unique and different, yet media can alter people’s perceptions of themselves and their identity. A real-world example is when influencer posts an image with a new fashion trend, people change their style and individuality to follow the new fashion trend. This follower mentality can eventually lead to lacking a personal identity causing conforming with the help of social media.

Identity is heavily affected by the media. Our generation has grown up surrounded by technology and it has shaped us into the people we are today. Social media influencers have taught us what is “trendy” or “aesthetic” and therefore we feel the need to change ourselves in order to fit that standard. If someone’s favorite celebrity is wearing a jacket, it will automatically make them more inclined to want to get that jacket. This can strip away parts of an individual’s identity because rather than forming their own look, they are copying someone else’s. Our online identity can be much different than our offline identity. This can be seen in celebrities especially. Since celebrities are constantly influencing individuals all around the world, they only want to show the best version of themselves to the public. It is inevitable that one’s interests are going to be affected by the media. This can be something as little as what makeup product to use all the way to who to cast your vote for in a presidential election. 

On the first day of class, Professor Hocutt asked the class about the relationship between media and identity, where the general response was that media can influence identity. Upon reading the keyword ‘identity,’ I’ve come to realize that not only can media influence identity, however in my own experience, media has the ability to restrict and reshape an individual’s own sense of identity. Speaking about media in a modern sense, it is inherently true that individuals can present their identities online, although media makes it easy to morph and curate new, or different identities than the original. Although these sub-versions of identity still exist as a branch of the original, these new versions of the identity mutilate and generally diminish an individual’s own perspective on their own identity. In class was discussed De Cart’s “I think, therefore I know,” meaning that the world is subjective to the people living in it. Continuously formulating a new identity, or attempting to morph a ‘good’ one online will only serve as a detriment to the individual themself, as they will never truly know what others think of them. Because the individual views everything from their own perception, it is safe to say that the attempts in curating the ‘ideal’ identity online only diminishes ‘true’ identity.

Media plays a big part in identity because from the day we are first introduced to any form it starts to play a role in the way that we think. For example, after watching new stories about people from your area and how they are supporting a certain candidate in a political party you will feel more inclined to see what that candidate is about. Media can also influence you to make the same decision as people who are like you. This can push you away from your individualistic identity and lead you to follow a single trait in your identity that you use to identify with others. Media also influences us to buy into popular culture and stray away from our individualistic identities. A big example of this is in TikTok and how trends cause people to dress differently instead of dressing in ways that they find cool. These trends make watchers feel like if they buy these clothes and wear them they will be seen as cool in the eyes of others because it is popular culture.