Identity and Information

Information is an external factor from which our identity perceives and acts upon. Information has been revolutionized in this digital era which has profound implications on how we consume information and, furthermore, our identities. The Internet has provided people with a fast and easy way to share information and data, leading to many opportunities to connect and grow as a society. However, this easy access to personal data has lead to some negative effects. This page explores those topics.

Spread of Information
The online space has become the go-to source for information in the last several decades. People’s online posting habits are frequently different than their behavior offline, which leads to consequences discussed in the Expression section. Because of this shift in behavior, the accuracy of information found online is frequently mistrusted. One of the common sentiments of our technological age is not to trust everything you read on the internet. The prevalence of misinformation is made possible by anonymity and pseudonymity, and elements of disinhibition. With any revelation of possibly controversial information, it “may just be a troll looking to make waves, or a person with a vendetta”. Because of this anonymity, it is important to be skeptical unless you are familiar with the source.

A study that researched the habits of dishonesty online, as well as people’s expectations about them, revealed that “only 16-32% reported self-honesty, and 0-2% expected others’ honesty online…Ratings of others’ lying behavior predicted own lying behavior”. This means that most people admit to being dishonest online, and the websites on which they predicted others to be most dishonest reflected their dishonest habits. It has also been found that people lie online because there is an existing standard and expectation that everyone lies online.

Greenwashing
Taking a more specific look at the false spread of information, one of the ways in which dishonest habits on the internet has manifested itself is greenwashing. According to an article by Medium, greenwashing is when companies falsely advertise their products/production process as environmentally friendly in order to convince consumers to buy their products. Companies spend time and money on boosting claims of sustainability instead of actually putting the effort into becoming more green. It is easy to influence a wide, global range of people with the far reach of the internet, a fact that companies easily use to take advantage of the dishonest tendencies of the internet. And because misinformation is easily spread on digital media, it can be difficult for people to do their own research on a company’s true green record/reputation when the only information they have to work with is the information the company itself puts out on the web. On the other hand, some companies can get away with greenwashing because people tend to accept what is presented to them on digital/social media without doing prior research. Perhaps society is feeding into social media’s ability to be deceitful by our lack of interest in doing our own research.

Advertising
The Internet has created a fast and easy way to spread information, but at the same time, it has also created an easy avenue for the invasion of privacy. An example of this is online advertising. According to an article by New America, digital media has enabled marketing companies to collect extremely personalized data about their consumers and use it to create more personalized ads. This data ranges from age, gender, and race to what kind of coffee you drink and what time of the day you drink it at. Again, because information is so easily shared on a global scale with the use of digital media, it is easier for companies to take advantage of their customers and manipulate feeds and webpages with ads of exactly what they believe their customers "want" to see. It’s a very real representation of how digital media can control people's entire worldview; however, it is also a representation of how society provides digital media with all the information to do so. After all, people continue to shop online, plugging in their addresses and birthdays into random websites to get free coupons and perks, not realizing this data is being stored and monitored by the big industries. These sorts of privacy issues manifest themselves wholly in advertising, but in many other sectors of the Internet as well.

Telemedicine
When looking at telehealth used in the age of the coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine is a healthcare service that allows for healthcare providers to reach their patients while limiting the risk of COVID-19 transmission. There are different telehealth formats and platforms that tailor to the professional and patients’ needs. Live audio and video conferences allow for more personalized care while archived videos, remote patient monitoring, and mHealth incorporate an information exchange accessible to both patient and provider. The new age of medical care delivery includes options that alter the typical in-person doctor’s visit, catering to the individual’s needs and abilities to attend the typical doctor’s visit.

Developments in privacy measures and technology advancement allow more information to be conveyed through telemedicine. Digital media platforms always have security vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks and concerns from media users. With technologies that prevent and detect image alterations, for example, photographs can be sent to specialists by patients and other professionals for examination without the fear of private information leakage and/or misdiagnosis by medical providers. Also, many healthcare patients “believe the benefits of using telehealth systems outweigh the risks”. Seeing that many see more benefits than perceived risks with using digitized healthcare options, telemedicine can become a more normalized option to host medical care.

Bridge the digital divide
The internet was released globally during the 1990s; it is surprising to hear that since that time advocating of ideas to bridge the gap of digital divide have been presented, but still need work and acknowledgement. The digital spread of information is essential and a privilege all individuals/communities should have; there are policies that have been presented to bridge the digital divide issue. These policies give a greater understanding of providing digital media for others, as it is mentioned, “Government policies can encourage the provision of last-mile connectivity by permitting competing facilities, especially for cable, wireless and digital subscriber lines” or ideas for internet affordability such as, “industry innovations to offer $20 smartphones” which will benefit the disadvantaged populations by providing them with internet connection; something like this is a brilliant idea to give access to the spread of information, and definitely help others get the most of their social media and internet experience overall.

An Online Image
One’s online image can be affected by the degree of anonymity that they are offered. As discussed in the Expression section, anonymity and pseudonymity enable people to control the amount of information they share, and decide whether to be truthful or not. Because of this, when posting online, it is common to “give an appearance of a life that was better than the life that they were leading”.

Finding Ourselves Through Media
As the rise of social media grows throughout time, we can only ask ourselves, when will it be too much? The growing number of users and how they perceive to be a different person than what they really are is concerning. It has been found that the influencers we see on Instagram have a fake lifestyle just to try to fit in to the standards that the influencer has. For example, it was known that influencers take pictures of themselves in a set up plane just so that people can think they are going on vacation or doing something big with their life. When in reality, they are fronting a lifestyle that they do not have.

All of this comes to affect the following they have. Affects them with their mental being thinking they are not doing enough with their life when everyone goes at their own pace. People in their early 20's think they are behind when they see people like Kylie Jenner because a billionaire with the empire she has built off of her makeup line and her family's reality show. It is hard to stop comparing ourselves to other people's fast lifestyle, but at the end, even taking a break away from these platforms to know your reality will help you see the difference in the long run and appreciate the genuine lifestyle you have.

Connecting with Others
A study done about various communities and their strength revealed that online communities had a lower sense of group identity than in-person communities. This is attributed to the less prominent disposition of online group members as impressionable, meaning that members are less willing to conform to group identities that they are less comfortable with. This means, however, that individuals online are more likely to form groups with people who have similar interests or identities to themselves.

One of the main benefits of being separated by a screen is that it creates a level of comfort between the individuals. One woman interviewed attested that “’trauma is a big factor in my ability to feel receptive…When I have time to get used to someone before they enter my physical presence, I'm less likely to be startled or frightened by them, which makes intimacy easier’”. This can also be applied to the formation of communities of more than two people.

Alternative Identities
In online communities we often have different identities that we use in different circumstances. When we contribute content online, we give a sense of personal investment into our content. We know that it represents us in one way or another and we attribute it to our being. As a result of one’s interpretations, feelings of doubt or being viewed as a fraud may arise. Due to the nature and structure of the digital era, imposter syndrome is becoming more prevalent than ever. Uncertainty and perfectionism are the big components.

Impostor Syndrome
In terms of imposter syndrome this is something that can affect anyone who has high enough levels of self doubt and traits of perfectionism. Within the perfectionism trait, one will set an unreasonable bar for success. In the context of digital communities, this may be community recognition like Instagram likes or any other sort of expected outcome. The way that this feeling can lead to imposter syndrome is via the self doubt that follows when one cannot achieve these lofty goals and expectations which can lead to a doubt in one's natural ability. The feeling that others' perception of themselves is wrong and that they will be figured out by them for not being who they were initially perceived to be.

An example of this is Maya Higa who is a Twitch streamer who was a small streamer until she met Matthew Rinaudo, her boyfriend, who has a much larger Twitch channel. Once their relationship went public her channel got strong recognition and users started to flow into her community. In lieu of her success, she feels like a fraud since her success wasn’t properly earned but handed to her. This is another way of how imposter syndrome can arise. In fact there are five types of imposter syndrome according to Valerie Young which can develop in their own ways. These types develop by those in a perfectionist mindset, an expert mindset, the natural genius mindset, soloists mindset, and the superman/woman mindsets. Rather these can be viewed as different types of mindsets which each view success similarly.

Online Identity
Acknowledging that there is deceit online is essential when navigating the internet. Most people agree that they expect less honesty on the internet and therefore post/communicate with less honesty in return. If you are aware of this phenomenon, then you are less likely to take false information for true. Knowing this information, you should be encouraged to check the reliability of your sources and to do your own research when necessary.

This is especially important when interacting with others online. One should not be so trusting when forming relationships with others, although the online space has proved a good place to form these communities.

Also, being aware of imposter syndrome is worth reading into because often this manifests and the user doesn't realize it. Confronting this case, strengthened by the awareness of others, can help alleviate symptoms of stress, rumination, anxiety, and depression. This is often more prevalent than one may realize.

Information Exchanges
Telemedicine has the potential to be a normalized healthcare practice that enables others to exchange personal medical information regardless of perceived technology vulnerabilities.

Related Pages
Accessibility

Expression

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