Online identity

Gilroy (1997, p 301) suggests ‘We live in a world where identity matters’, while Hall (1996, p 2) argues that, in recent years, we have seen ‘a veritable discursive explosion’ around the concept of identity, which reflects its centrality to the question of agency and politics, including identity politics. Indeed, advances in technology have added new dimensions to identity, and have made the concept of identity ever more diverse and complex.

But what is identity? What would you say if someone asked you who you are? Would you just give your name? Or would you say what you do? ‘I am a ….’ Or where you live or come from? ‘We are actually neighbours ….’ ‘I live in ….’ etc. These and other indications are different ways we identify, describe and relate to ourselves and others, and may be considered as dimensions of our identity or as part of our identity narrative. But what is identity? What do we mean by ‘self ‘ or ‘being ourselves’?

Selves in post/late modernity are set within a growing array of life options (Giddens, 1991), and digital and social media technologies, from different SNSs to Bitmojis, offer infinite ways we can present and make sense of identity. We offer a more comprehensive discussion of identity elsewhere (see Megele and Buzzi, 2018b), but although a detailed discussion of identity is beyond the scope of this text, a brief examination of identity can help us highlight some of the important differences between online and offline domains and behaviours and their associated risks and significance. Therefore, let us briefly examine the notions of narrative, performative and dialogical identity, as the combination of these theorisations of identity can help us better understand the contemporary dimensions of identity, and the impact and influence of digital and social media technologies on its creation, maintenance, representations and development.

Narrative identity

Identity can be understood as narratives, stories that people tell themselves and others about themselves and others, stories about who they are and are not, and how they would/should be (Martin, 1995). This allows for a decentring of self that treats ‘oneself as another’ (that is, telling ourselves about ourselves), and is the essence of reflective identity providing the ‘narrative component of the comprehension of self ‘ (Ricoeur, 1992, p 201, quoted in Megele and Buzzi, 2018b).