IB Digital Society 2.3B the Dynamic Nature of Identity Notes

2.3B The Dynamic Nature of Identity

Identity Is Not Fixed

1. Identity shifts with context and audience; digital systems constantly change both, making identity more fluid than earlier technology did.
2. The same person emphasises different sides in different settings (formal at school, guarded with strangers). This is how identity normally works, and nobody is being dishonest.
3. Goffman (1959): everyday life is a performance, with a front stage (a version suited to the audience) and a back stage (relaxed, performance dropped); his language of impression management is still standard.
4. Online the rooms explode and the walls turn to glass: one account faces friends, strangers, classmates, and future employers at once, so the front stage is far harder to manage. You perform to several audiences at once, often without knowing who is watching.
5. Digital systems also let you rebuild the performance instantly: change name, photo, and history in seconds and run several versions in parallel.

Many Selves, Many Platforms

1. Most people run more than one online self; managing how you come across is self-presentation.
2. Each platform pulls a different self because each has a different audience and norms: a joke that lands with friends looks unprofessional on a hiring network.
3. Context collapse (Boyd and Marwick): many distinct audiences flatten into one, so something shared for one group is seen by all the others at once.
4. Classic case: a post meant for close friends reaches a future employer. People have lost jobs and university places over old posts read by an audience they were never written for.