Identity and Perception Blog #2

Identity and perception, two strong and powerful words. But what exactly do they mean? According to the book Communication A Critical/Cultural Introduction identity refers to who someone is, and ultimately answers the question "Who am I?" Although, this question is very difficult to answer because how can we just decide who we are in that instance the question got asked? When we think of the word identity, the terms student ID card, drivers license, social security, all come to mind. Those are tangible items that represent the word identity. But, ones identity is significantly more than those items. A more in depth definition from the Communication A Critical/Cultural Introduction book is, "the totality of the persons self attributes at any given moment in time." This quote explains that your identity is constantly changing and in a state of flux. Identity or "self" is constructed of two parts, idiosyncratic and social. Idiosyncratic is often compared to a black box, where nothing changes. But the major part of ones identity is the social aspect. In class, Christina had put up a list with things that were important to her and that had an influence on her identity. This concept is known as saliency, and depending on the situation you are in, certain identities that weren't so important before, can float to the top and rotate. On the other hand is perception, and that is someones perspective or point of view. It is how a person sees the world, as influenced by the social, cultural, and political experiences. The thoughts we have in our minds right now, are there because of whats going on around us, we are constantly getting messages from the different communities we are in that influence our daily decisions.

Overall, my point is that identity is never concrete and changes depending on the context one is in. Although, during Christina's lecture, the idea of managing social image/identity really caught my attention. We build an impression of ourselves for ourselves and others. This is known as Golfman's Impression Management, and I thought it was very interesting because it is SO relatable especially in our day and age. Social media is extremely prevalent, everyone around us has some sort of social media account whether that is Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. Constantly capturing and sharing life's sweet or funny moments. But see, that's where it gets deceiving. Have you ever looked at someone Snapchat story and started to get jealous because what they were doing in that Snapchat story is so much better than what you are doing right now. But, that may not be the case because people try to make it look so much better than it actually is. You (the viewer) only see a snippet of what that person was doing. Turns out, that person you were getting jealous over was only at that party for 5 minutes and then left to go back home. Not that exciting after all!

The point is we try to control what others see about us and it alters are perceptions about one another. People only want to post "the good stuff", and often use photo cropping or filters to portray themselves as better looking or thinner. Being able to separate our identity with Instagram's filters and blurring effects is what we do all the time. It is true though, most of us our guilty of altering our photos to make us look better because we want to show our lives as perfect and beautiful, when that is not the truth. The perfect word to describe social media is deceiving. Our perception is affected by social media and can influence our outcomes when it comes to applying for jobs. Once something is out on the internet, it is out there forever and the Internet now owns it. That one bad picture of you at a party, maybe not feeling to well, can be a deciding point whether or not you get a job. All in all, our identities are in a constant state of flux, and our perceptions are constantly being influenced by our social and political experiences.