With this week’s post, I had planned on taking an overall look at identity in relation to the other factors I have examined in previous posts. However, after I had begun, I realised that much of it would be better placed in my final post, and also that there were other things that still needed to be said in relation to teenage girls’ identities before that could happen.
I originally hadn’t even considered Erikson’s work as something to explore in this project, as my focus was on Bauman and Goffman, but once I began delving into a more overall look at teenage girls’ identities, it seems almost inevitable. At this point, I’m almost literally smacking myself on the forehead saying “Idiot! Of course!”. So here it goes.
It has been firmly established that adolescence is a pivotal time for identity formation, and during this time teens often face an ‘identity crisis’ (Erikson, 1951; Erikson 1971). It is during this time that
Erikson also states that
I originally hadn’t even considered Erikson’s work as something to explore in this project, as my focus was on Bauman and Goffman, but once I began delving into a more overall look at teenage girls’ identities, it seems almost inevitable. At this point, I’m almost literally smacking myself on the forehead saying “Idiot! Of course!”. So here it goes.
It has been firmly established that adolescence is a pivotal time for identity formation, and during this time teens often face an ‘identity crisis’ (Erikson, 1951; Erikson 1971). It is during this time that
the young adult through free role experimentation may find a niche in some section of his society, a niche which is firmly defined and yet seems to be uniquely made for him…for it is of great relevance to the young individual’s identity formation that he be responded to and be given function and status as a person whose gradual growth and transformation make sense to those who begin to make sense to him (Erikson, 1971: 156).
In general, it is the inability to settle on an occupational identity which most disturbs young people. To keep themselves together they temporarily overidentify with the heroes of cliques and crowds to the point of an apparently complete loss of individuality (Erikson, 1971: 132).
SO…
During this critical stage of identity formation, teenage girls ‘experiment’ with different roles and identities in order to find a ‘niche’ into which they can fit once they ‘grow up’, so to speak. Erikson suggests that adolescence is over once, and only once, this identity crisis has been resolved. Nothing has changed for teenagers since Erikson came up with all of this, except the mediums available for this experimentation. Girls now have the internet to help the process. Or does it perhaps hinder the process?
Gross’s research suggests that 51% of participants in their study had pretended at some stage during their internet use, but only 2% of these had “explicitly mentioned wanting to explore a new self or identity” (Gross, 2004: 644). From this, it would seem that teens do not in fact use the internet as an “identity playground” as much as it was first thought. However, this research is directed at identifying teens who pretended to BE someone else, rather than experimenting with different aspects of THEIR identity, and furthermore, many teens would not even realise that what they are doing online is ‘exploring a new self or identity’, and thus would not respond in that way. It is more about experimenting with different aspects of identity, rather than completely different identities.
As has already been established in previous posts, the internet, and in particular social networking sites such as MySpace, provide a space where teens can ‘try on’ different identities and be whoever they want to be. The fluid nature of the internet allows them to not only easily change their ‘identity’ whenever they feel like it, but to also perform it in an environment that allows them to do so anonymously if they wish. The anonymity gives them the opportunity to try out different identities that may not be deemed socially acceptable amongst their immediate peers. As Valentine and Holloway explain, teens “find it easier to take risks with their self-presentation on-line because of the anonymity and privacy afforded by ICT (“no one knows who you really are…)” and also that “ICT gives [them] more control over their identities than do spontaneous face-to-face encounters because they have time to think about what they want to say and how they want to represent themselves” (Valentine & Holloway, 2002: 308). It is these aspects of the internet and social networking sites that assist teens through their identity crises.
However, an article by the Royal College of Psychiatrists suggests that "it may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities" ('Facebook Generation' Faces Identity Crisis, 2008), which can, so they say, have implications for their well-being. In response to this, it is important to point out that many of the people teens connect with through social networking sites such as MySpace are people they know primarily off-line, and so whatever their online identity may be, it will always be an extension of their offline identity, and very few teens will sever the ties between the two.
The problem of identity has always been around for teenage girls, it’s only their use of the internet to try and solve it that is new. The capabilities of the internet make identity construction and experimentation easier than ever before, and arguably provide teenagers with a powerful and useful tool for overcoming the identity crisis they face in their teenage years.
References:
During this critical stage of identity formation, teenage girls ‘experiment’ with different roles and identities in order to find a ‘niche’ into which they can fit once they ‘grow up’, so to speak. Erikson suggests that adolescence is over once, and only once, this identity crisis has been resolved. Nothing has changed for teenagers since Erikson came up with all of this, except the mediums available for this experimentation. Girls now have the internet to help the process. Or does it perhaps hinder the process?
Gross’s research suggests that 51% of participants in their study had pretended at some stage during their internet use, but only 2% of these had “explicitly mentioned wanting to explore a new self or identity” (Gross, 2004: 644). From this, it would seem that teens do not in fact use the internet as an “identity playground” as much as it was first thought. However, this research is directed at identifying teens who pretended to BE someone else, rather than experimenting with different aspects of THEIR identity, and furthermore, many teens would not even realise that what they are doing online is ‘exploring a new self or identity’, and thus would not respond in that way. It is more about experimenting with different aspects of identity, rather than completely different identities.
As has already been established in previous posts, the internet, and in particular social networking sites such as MySpace, provide a space where teens can ‘try on’ different identities and be whoever they want to be. The fluid nature of the internet allows them to not only easily change their ‘identity’ whenever they feel like it, but to also perform it in an environment that allows them to do so anonymously if they wish. The anonymity gives them the opportunity to try out different identities that may not be deemed socially acceptable amongst their immediate peers. As Valentine and Holloway explain, teens “find it easier to take risks with their self-presentation on-line because of the anonymity and privacy afforded by ICT (“no one knows who you really are…)” and also that “ICT gives [them] more control over their identities than do spontaneous face-to-face encounters because they have time to think about what they want to say and how they want to represent themselves” (Valentine & Holloway, 2002: 308). It is these aspects of the internet and social networking sites that assist teens through their identity crises.
However, an article by the Royal College of Psychiatrists suggests that "it may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities" ('Facebook Generation' Faces Identity Crisis, 2008), which can, so they say, have implications for their well-being. In response to this, it is important to point out that many of the people teens connect with through social networking sites such as MySpace are people they know primarily off-line, and so whatever their online identity may be, it will always be an extension of their offline identity, and very few teens will sever the ties between the two.
The problem of identity has always been around for teenage girls, it’s only their use of the internet to try and solve it that is new. The capabilities of the internet make identity construction and experimentation easier than ever before, and arguably provide teenagers with a powerful and useful tool for overcoming the identity crisis they face in their teenage years.
References:
Erikson, E (1951), Childhood and Society, Imago Publishing: London.
Erikson, E (1971), Identity: Youth and Crisis, Faber & Faber: London.
Gross, E (2004), 'Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report', Applied Developmental Psychology, Vol. 25, pp. 633-649.
'Facebook Generation' Faces Identity Crisis, Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008), accessed October 16th, 2009.
Valentine, G & Holloway, S (2002), 'Cyberkids? Exploring Children's Identities and Social Networks in On-line and Off-line Worlds', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 302-319.
Erikson, E (1971), Identity: Youth and Crisis, Faber & Faber: London.
Gross, E (2004), 'Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report', Applied Developmental Psychology, Vol. 25, pp. 633-649.
'Facebook Generation' Faces Identity Crisis, Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008), accessed October 16th, 2009.
Valentine, G & Holloway, S (2002), 'Cyberkids? Exploring Children's Identities and Social Networks in On-line and Off-line Worlds', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 302-319.
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