Exam style question

"Popular culture is a form of culture pollution, which undermines traditional values and standards" 

I disagree with this statement because pop  culture is definitely needed in today's world. One of the reasons for that is applied through the gratification theory. Escapism is definitely one of the main aspects that challenge that theory. I think this because many people want to express their feelings or thoughts on social medias to relate to others or feel better. This shows that pop culture is necessary because without it many people would build up feelings inside of them witch can be dangerous.

Another reason why i disagree is that compared to higher culture popular culture is used more. This is because popular culture helps to show yourself as our true self where as higher culture is most likely done because people want to present themselves better than they actually are in real life. For example more people would shop in high street stores rather than designed store because they are cheaper and to some people things are worth the same even if they are more expensive.

I think personal identity really supports my response to this quote because many people want aspects of other people to be part of their identity. This can be from things like their outfit to things like their hair. I think this is a good thing because if people like something they can have a similar look, even though it does change their own identity it lets them experience new things which is important. Also because of pop culture many people have role models which they want to be like, so popular culture helps them to express themselves and look up to them to try and be like them. This shows that people can change aspects of their identity if they want to and this means it will benefit many people because they get to experience different aspects of their identity and experiment with many different things. 

Facebook Dislike Button...

So, facebook might have a dislike button coming out? Good idea? I really do not think so. The famous Mark Zuckerburg thinks it will be a great oppurtinity to guive empathy to people if something bad has happened in their life's because not all statuses are always happy. However personally i highly doubt it that people will use it like that.

Most people will use it to express their thoughts on how others look (for example in pictures) and how others sound (in statues), this will mostly be negative thoughts. I think this because people will take advantage of the dislike button and probably want to make people feel uncomfortable and upset. If someone disliked your selfie, you would not be happy, would you? This could lead to people deactivating their facebook account which is not a good thing for Zuckerberg. Unfortunately the dislike button is not a good idea at all, it will cause arguments, sadness and even bullying, the worst part about it is that people might only mean to dislike something for "banter" but most people will not realise that.

On the other hand, it could be useful for some things. These things include people wanting to show others that they are wrong. For example if a argument breaks out on facebook and someone thinks that everything they said was right, others might dislike it to show them that they are wrong, which will make them realise that. Also it gives a chance for people to express their opinons, they might have a strong view point on something which they clearly disagree on, so they would dislike it, but it can lead to a lot of negativity. So overall it probably won't be one of best Mark Zuckerburg's inventions. However some people may use it in the way he wantsto them, but most of them probably won'. We will just have to see...

 

I am who I am because of everyone

I am who I am because of everyone

I am the people who tell me they love me,

I am the haters that hate me but made make stronger,

I am the family who help me succeed, 

I am the people who support me in all my decisions,

I am the people who help me through those decisions,

I am the songs which make me happy,

I am the purse I made for my mum when i was eight,

I am the new girl who met new, welcoming and lovely people,

I am who i am because of everyone.

Identity task on Social Medias

Your task is to try to apply identity theory to your performance online. Choose one particular social media platform (e.g. Twitter / Instagram) – or you can discuss all of them at once - and link it to the theory we have learned. How do you perform your identity online?  What kind of person are you? What do you share with others?

Twitter

Personally I think I perform my identity online as my true self, well it mostly depends on the social media. For example with twitter, I am very close to my true self because I express my thoughts and feelings in 140 characters. This supports Goffman’s theory because my performance is very sincere. Even though I may not be very specific in the posts I put online I still think I clearly let my followers know what I am feeling. So according to Rogers theory I would say that I show my private self quite a lot on twitter. Even though my followers are not my closest friends or some are people who I do not know I still like to reveal my feelings to them, this is because most of the time it kind of makes me feel better by writing something online because I got a feeling that someone is reading it and are interested in what I have to say.

Instagram & Facebook

On Instagram I think I am mostly closest to my ideal self, this is probably the same with Facebook. I think this because I try to make myself look good and I show what other people would like to see. For example on my ‘selfies’ on Instagram I always try to look ‘good’ in them because I don’t want to look bad where the whole world can see it. If that would happen my self-esteem would definitely go down which is why I try to have a good self-image on Instagram and Facebook. Facebook is the app or social media where I hardly ever post anything. I mostly share things, like things and change my profile picture every now and then. This is because that’s what most people want, they don’t want you posting loads of pictures all the time or keep updating your statuses. I am what society wants me to be like.

However even though I am what other people want me to be like on Instagram and Facebook, Johari’s Window theory proves that I can also be my blind self on Instagram, also on Facebook. This is because if I think I look ‘good’ in a selfie others might think that I look horrible but I will not know that. Or if I share something on Facebook because I found it very funny, others might think it’s stupid and not funny at all. This shows that there are many things that other people can notice about you but you don’t realise them.

So overall I think that identity really depends on the context and the situation which explains Goffman’s theory. You act different and show yourself differently on social medias, depending on what one it is. So from Goffman’s theory I can see that we have many different identities dependant on the social role we are doing.

Practice Exam Question

"We develop our identities in response to the ways in which others communicate with us"

Why so you agree with this statement?

I agree with this statement because Joahri's Window theory shows that everyone has a few different selves to themselves which means that you communicate with others in different ways. Also my personal experience from meeting new friends has shows that my identity shifts depending on the different situation.

Also my public self and private self are two different identity types which you show to different people. For example i am emotional but also outgoing as my private self, similarly i am confident as my public self but not emotional. This shows that identities are developed by people around us and in the way we communicate with them. If i knew someone and got really close with them i would reveal my private self to them but if i just met someone i would be my public self, so quite bubbly and very friendly. So my identity slowly shifts depending on my self esteem because off how confident i am around someone and also dependent on the context.