My Digital Identity Journey
Technology has always been a part of my life from the very beginning; however, the digital advancements over my lifetime have forged an ever changing digital identity even today. I began using personal technology with a clunky desktop computer in my room which simply included Microsoft Word, AOL and a few games. This same technology was used in school, but those computers were strictly used for typing up a final draft of an essay. In the school environment the large desktops soon transformed into “COW,” which stands for Computer On Wheels. The teacher had to sign-up for their class to use this cart weeks in advance so that all their students could complete research projects at the same time. I then received a Tracfone, which I paid for myself, where each character I used in a text I was charged for. At this point my digital identity simply consisted as a creator, as I was writing texts and conducting research projects for school use only. As the years continued, I received a “netbook” computer, which was simply a smaller version of a laptop which I could do school projects on at home; however, I still had to use a flash drive to transfer my work. Technology education was then added to public school curriculum in middle school to teach us the digital skill of how to type quickly and efficiently. This furthered my digital identity as a creator as I made documents using Google Maps and explored new websites. I began using PowerPoint and other digital platforms to be more creative with how I represented my work to a digital audience. At this moment I was still strictly a creator of content in the digital realm and was beginning to form my digital identity as such; however, then came social media.
I was only allowed to create a Facebook when I became a teenager, per my parent’s rules, and that is when the other digital platforms also began to come out. I quickly joined Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in an attempt to participate in the digital realm and share my personal life with the entire digital community. Renee Hobbs explains that “[w]e live in a participatory culture where all of us are increasingly expected to share and contribute our knowledge with others”; therefore, I was eager to participate in this new form of digital media where I could easily share my creations (2017, p.8). I began uploading images from family trips to Facebook and sharing my every thought with the community, as well as taking and editing images for Instagram to demonstrate my artsy creativity to everyone. The point of social media at this point in my life was to show everyone my personal life and that I am a social person. My identity became a digital author for external gratification. Everytime I received a notifcation of a like or a comment of a post on my phone I knew that someone approved or wanted to interact with me. This participation within the digital realm and primary identity as a creator quickly changed as I entered college.
Once I began college, I left behind looking for gratification from others in my education environment because my school population expanded rapidly. My identity as a personal digital creator shifted to being a school digital creator as needed. I made a website once for a course, created PowerPoints, formed necessary tumblr or blog accounts to share my assignments with classmates, and wrote prescribed essays/responses. My author digital identity was all consumed by my educational environment; therefore, I took a step back from being a personal creator and focused on my digital consumer identity. I strictly decided to form my digital identity as an education creator and personal consumer of media whether that be from television and movies or social media. As I began to consume more social media, I soon began to question my mental health using it as I realized that the approval from others was doing harm. As I did this I saw that Twitter specifically was doing significant harm to my mental health as I was starting to read my acquaintances’ messages more, and realized that some were indirectly directed towards me. I would read a short message and interpret it as being indirectly meant for me because I knew the situation or comment they were specifically talking about. It became a platform for people to attack me behind a screen rather than face-to-face. Now these indirect messages may have had nothing to do with me at all, and I was simply negotiating and interpreting the meaning of a message based on my own information; however, either way it was not healthy for me (Jenkins, 2018, p. 16). I then switched to only use Facebook for keeping up with friends, as well as Instagram for entertainment purposes. I now have also decided to strictly adopt a digital consumer identity because of the constant reminders from professors that future employers will look at my social media footprint before hiring me. As of now I continue to primarily have the digital identity as a consumer, for these various personal experiences reasons, as well as a digital author simply for educational purposes as a student and educator.
Recently my digital identity as a creator has been for my school assignments, as well as for teaching my students digital literacy. Although I am not primarily a digital author in my private life, I am as an educator to set an example for my students that creating digital media is an important avenue to express themselves and learn new perspectives. Through this reflection I just discovered that I have different digital identities as a consumer and author based on different contexts and personal experiences, but above all else I primarily identify as a personal digital consumer and an educational digital creator. #EDC534 #digitalliteracy #digitalmedia
References:
Hobbs, R. (2017). Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy. New York: Wiley.
Jenkins, H. (2018). Fandom, negotiation, and participatory culture. In P. Booth (Ed), A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (pp. 13–26). Routledge.
