November blog post

Social penetration theory is the idea that everyone has three levels to their identity. The way that you allow people to gain knowledge of these layers is self-disclosure. The first of which is the surface level or their mask. This level is their outward portrayal towards the public. Anyone that has access to them or their social media can see the surface level of a person. Often this level is rather fake because it is what that person wants you to think about them. The next level is the middle layer. This is where items like ones ideologies and beliefs reside. It is information that isn’t overly personal in nature but you still probably have to have some type of relationship to know these items of their personality. The last level is the core. In the core resides a persons values and secrets. Only people that are in a close interpersonal relationship will generally have access to this layer. Knowledge of these layers is categorized into depth and breadth. To know a lot about a person(s) surface layers is to have breadth and to know a person down to their core is depth.
I think this is an important idea right now because of the elections happening today as well as the age of social media. There is so much breadth concerning surface level information about people readily available but what do we really know about the people we interact with and elect to public office. We love to surf peoples social media and listen to their campaign ads but often don’t make an attempt to break into the middle or core layers. It seems right now that more people put importance in breadth and “knowing” a lot of different people than having deeper interpersonal relationships.
Moving on from personal relationships it is interesting how easily people fall for surface level information in political ads. To use Idaho political ads for example you will often see people mentioning how much they like to ride horses and keep agricultural jobs in state. Now these short ad’s only allow for surface level but even in events like debates it is hard for politicians to take off their mask and show us who they truly are. I understand this is part of the game of politics and usually a smart thing to do, it is frustrating to me. As someone who values the depth of relationships, I find it hard to accept anything politicians or social media accounts say to me. Attached are some of the ads run by Idaho ads in this previous election.

https://youtu.be/RLcOlM1YLP4