Life as an identity building project

“It is fun, my friends can see what I am up to and people can comment on my life and I can comment on theirs. It is a way to show your life and to let other people in. Everyone is doing it.”

Estonian girl, 15 years old about uploading pictures and other personal information on the internet.*

AN EXPLOSION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

During the last years it has been difficult to miss the explosion of social networks on the internet. Facebook, MySpace, StudiVZ (Germany), Cyworld (South Korea) – you can hardly flip through any magazine today without coming across the specific name of a social network or a discussion about social networks in general. This development evidently begs the question: where does it come from? Why do people in general, and young people in particular, have a need to expose themselves and their lives on the internet in this way? 

FROM COLLECTIVISM TO INDIVIDUALISM, FROM HIERARCHY TO MERITOCRACY

A hundred years ago identity was to a large extent something you were born with.Today, identity has less and less to do with where you come from, but it’s more and more about what you are doing and where you are going that matters.

In a historical context there are two important societal shifts that have brought about the importance of identity building: the shift from strict social hierarchy to meritocracy and the shift from collectivism to individualism. Today, people are mostly judged by their own merits and accomplishments and less by where they come from. Instead of living life the way your collective did before you, focus has shifted to life being about self-realization and self-development. In a world where the individual has a larger extent of freedom and can become anything he or she wants (at least in theory) there is also room to build your identity and not being tied to it by birth.

THE ERA OF CHOSEN COMMUNITIES  

The broad use of social networking sites, not only among youth, but across age groups leads us to an interesting point: profession and education are increasingly important as identity shapers. While factors such as religion and (ethnic) origin have decreased in importance, the 21st century is the era of the “chosen community”. We choose our relationships to a greater extent moving away from traditional connections based on family, religion, geographical and ethnic origin etc. Instead we define ourselves based in what we do, whom we know and what we have studied. 

 

 

Importance of different identity shapers – education, profession, religion and ethnic group among 30-50 year olds and 16-29 year olds in the EU (answers 6 & 7 on a 7-grade scale where 7 means “very important”). Source Kairos Future.

This development has also spurred a necessity to be visible in different forums, most often on the internet, whether you like it or not. To “google” someone is often the first step when e.g. a manager needs to get a quick first glimpse of person. Of course you do not want embarrassing photos to appear, but even worse could be not to appear at all. It is almost like if you are not visible you do not exist.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?  

If you want to know about  Kairos Future's studies on values and lifestyles please contact Ms. Elin Åström through e-mail or telephone: +46 733 64 55 90.

You can read more about Kairos Future's latest international value survey here!

* From Kairos Future’s qualitative research conducted in conjunction with the Global Youth project 2007.