Identity

The topic I would like to address is identity. “Who am I?” Is one of the biggest questions we can ask. It ranks up there with any of the big questions one can ask in a lifetime. The definition for identity given in class was “the totality of the person’s self attributes at a given moment in time”. I understand the openness of this definition, and I tend to see the final “…at a given moment in time” as very necessary. Because it is fitting for a small percentage of people. The definition meets the needs of certain minorities within this idea. I don’t have hard statistics on this, but wouldn’t most sociologists and psychologists say that identity is established early and typically stays the same, with possible slight variations over time? Of course there are people who’s identity changes drastically, but wouldn’t these folks be the exception?

Identity has become, and is still becoming, a complicated matter. With the rise of social media and our ability to create an identity of our own liking, some people have seen the lines between identities blurred. This is especially problematic for young people who are establishing their identities at the same time all this media is having a meteoric rise. It makes me wonder how Andres Gomez’ experience would have been different. 

He has a difficult enough time charting the rough waters of childhood due to family disfunction and a natural disposition of being afraid. He was focused so much on his actual, real life identity that he was able to overcome many obstacles. With the addition of an online presence/distraction it would have been even more difficult to grow in the way that he did. He was able to discover himself and analyze his history, personality, etc. because he stayed so much in the real world focusing on his own identity.