Hyperlink Report: "Interaction and Identity"

For my hyperlink report, I decided to read the fourth section of Digital Media and Society, which focuses on interaction and identity. As a psychology major interested in developing interactive media for educational purposes, I found this portion of the book incredibly informative and applicable to my future work.

The chapter begins with a definition of social interactivity, defined by social psychologists as “what goes on when people do things in relation to one another,” or a “change in nature of media audiences.” The author reflects on the progression of interaction within the media space, starting with traditional mass communication strategies such as newspapers and television reports. These traditional mass communication strategies employ no kind of reciprocal interaction. Then, there are forms of highly interactive forms of media that reach very small or single-person audience, like telephone or webcam conversations. Finally, there is the Internet and social media as we think of it today, which enables interactive forms of communication among a larger number of people: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. A form of media is deemed interactive if it enables or demands that the audience does something with the information as opposed to passively absorbing it, like navigating, playing, experimenting, exploring, or creating.

With all of this considered, social psychologists believe that we are the interaction society more than we are the information society. Although it is true that endless amounts of information are available at our fingertips, one can argue that the Internet plays the largest role in our social lives. They discuss the criticism surrounding the early days of the Internet, that it allowed people to “make-believe they are anyone or anything they like” and that no one else would know the difference. This may have been true in the early days, when most forms of digital social interaction consisted of online forums organized by topic. Although these forums do exist, the majority of social media today is organized by personal connections in real life. This leads to more honesty and transparency, such as using one’s real name and picture and listing one’s school/job to create more connections within those circles.

Invisibility is still an important aspect of digital media, and these social psychologists explored anonymity’s benefits and drawbacks. An experiment was conducted in which strangers were placed in a room together. In a well-lit room, subjects reported feeling bored in their conversation. In a darkened room, subjects reported being more explorative and more physically close to others. If experimenters tell the subjects

that they will get to meet the subjects after the hour is up, the explorative aspect diminishes even in a darkened room. This experiment demonstrates the power of anonymity in empowering an individual to be more affectionate, more daring, or more aggressive than they would otherwise. Pseudonyms are also explored in the chapter, usernames and avatars that a person uses in one or more social media site that in some way reflects their personhood. In these situations, although there is still an aspect of anonymity, the username becomes an extension of the individual’s identity and in some cases, like with the Instafamous, a piece of intellectual property developed and maintained over time, such as with the YouTuber and popular Icon @GigiGorgeous.

In all, this section of the book enlightened my perspective on the psychological aspects of identity and invisibility in the media without leading me to draw certain conclusions. My own person conclusion is that social media can be a positive addition to one’s identity and a wonderful tool in social development, but its role differs by situation and circumstance. Like anything in life, moderation is key.