How Social Media is Reshaping Identity

For generations that have grown up online, the inability to escape the bounds of social media undoubtedly shapes our identity.

• If you are reading this, then you had a childhood. It is something we almost all have in common. Yet, the individual memories that we have of our childhood can differ extensively.
• In decades gone by, sociologists, psychologists, media scholars and the likes were all far more likely to lament the loss of childhood than to worry about the potential for its perpetual presence.
• However, for many of us, our lives have been documented online since a young age. There is an entire time capsule at our fingertips. Whether we want access to this is another question.
• Social media prevents those who may want a clean break from their past from doing so wholly. This can influence one’s identity, how they perceive themselves, and how they grow as a person.
• For example, some trans people uploaded content prior to transitioning. Post transitioning, many trans people want a clean slate. Yet, this is almost impossible to achieve with social media archives.
• Many people also live in fear online; they are afraid to speak out, in case one wrong statement forever marks their online identity.