Whither the Individual?

Whither the Individual?

As we join groups and social networks from affinity sites to Facebook, are we extending and expanding identities, or increasingly conforming to the cookie-cutter profiles demanded of these interfaces? Is the loss of "personal space" and "reflection" so many users complain of merely the necessary surrender of "ego" as we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people?"

         Social networking has been questioned since it first started becoming popular. Are we expanding our identities? Are we losing our rights of privacy? What must we put on our profiles, that are highly demanded on these websites? With the somewhat new idea of the Internet, it is only expected that these questions arise. Web 2.0 has allowed users to be more social, interacting with each other on almost every website they are on, making social networks all that more social. Before this idea of social networks, and Internet, the only way to connect and interact with one other was face to face, real life communication. Now the web has made it all that much easier to communicate and interact. So in theory, are we conforming to a society where we extend and expand our identities? Ultimately, yes, we are, but that does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing.

         With all this extending, expanding and conforming, we are technically working together. We spread news, information travels quicker, personal contact can be kept with those who are not close in distance. So although, sites like Facebook does make the requirement to extend out identities when signing up to be a member, many positive results come from this. Today, most people have a Facebook. By getting one you are not conforming to society, rather, just joining it. Facebook does allow you to be an individual, and allows each member to make their page semi-different. While the layout is the same for each and every member, you are allowed to write about yourself, have status updates, (meaning that you can say what you are doing, say a quote, an inside joke, etc), to insert your favorite quotes, to have pictures or not to have pictures, to share what you want to share. I know on my personal page, I share little information. I do not put the year of my birthday, the names of my parents, my hometown, I keep it very simple. I expanded my identity by having my name out on this social website, and extending my pictures, but I made it so that only my friend’s can be the one who views them. Just like other social networking sites, like Twitter, Online Dating, Blogs, you can write and extend yourself to the extent where you want it. As I said before in class, my brother was very against Facebook, but because majority of our age group population has one, he conformed and made himself one.

         So does social networking sites increasingly make us conform? I would say yes. We do extend and expand ourselves, and in majority conform to society, but I do not think this necessarily means a loss of personal space and the surrender of our egos. You share what you want to share, and if you think that this is a loss of your personal space and ego, then start sharing less information. This idea of Web 2.0 and social networking is a part of Evolution. Just like e-mails were made out to be some far off crazy idea when it was first invented, people slowly became evolved and the convenience of this e-mailing idea became prominent and a necessity in most people’s lives. Not only is it used to stay in personal contact with friends and family, but it is used for business, for advertisements, for coupons, so on an so forth. Web 2.0 and social networking are still relatively new, and people are not quite evolved to the idea of constant contact and the expansions of ourselves. But, with time, this idea will come to be more and more normal, and even more accepted then it already has.