In the world in which we live in today being able to navigate social media is a necessary skill set. However, the successful navigation of social media can create damaging habits, especially when concerning the construction and presentation of self on social networks. While social media simultaneously provides entertainment and a creative lens for expressing one’s self-identity, it has been known to add additional stress to the lives of youth today. For instance, in a study conducted by Richard Perloff, he found that the online presence of young women and their reliance on social media can lead to and negatively influence body image (Perloff, 2014). In another study conducted by June Ahn at the University of Maryland discovered …show more content…
Afterward, an introduction and analysis of Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life will be provided. In discussing Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and analysis of self-identity. While Goffman’s work primarily focused on self-perception in reality, we will examine how his work can be applied to the current research pertaining to the informal interaction and validation received via the virtual world.
Instagram, IG, or the Gram is an online photo-sharing mobile site and application created by Kevin Systrom (Instagram, 2017). Systrom vision and goals for Instagram is for users to display the most interesting and important moments of their lives. Due to the rapid popularity of the networking site, most users post pictures ranging anywhere from where they eat, shop, and sleep – to even where they were proposed to. In this sense, Instagram becomes an extension of the user’s daily life. By providing users the avenue to not only post about they're own lives but view others, it allows for the creation of self through their own lens. Like many other social media sites, Instagram has built in applications such as liking photos or leaving comments. Such applications allow for the informal interaction to occur between users. Further developing users sense of identity. This research hopes to identify and better understand the validation users receive from the informal interactions …show more content…
In 1959, Goffman developed the concept of dramaturgy, which is centered around the idea life itself is a never-ending onstage play in which people are the actors (Goffman, 479). Through socialization and everyday interactions, people learn to play their assigned roles from others. The dramatical approach recognizes the front stage and the back stage. The front stage can be seen as the place that we spend most of our time, in the public arena. Such as lecture hall or at the dinner table. However, in the private spheres of our life, such as our bedrooms these can be viewed as the backstage (Goffman, 479). Anywhere we "act" in front of people can be viewed as the front stage; in this respect Instagram and Twitter.
In Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, he examines the importance of everyday interactions between people. These interactions are not only performance based but also relational. This can be seen as an actor- audience dynamic. The actors attempt to highlight aspects of themselves that they want the audience to perceive as the real (Goffman, 479). Meaning that through these interactions people attempt to create an image of themselves for others to