Advanced Essay #2:The place we have in Society
Introduction: This is my essay that I wrote about the impact society has on our identity. In my essay I talk about the place that people have in different societies, and the way the society they live in affects their identity.
Often times we think about our place in society, and how our society forms our sense of belonging. I think it is necessary to define “our society” first. Whether it be American society as a whole, or just the 500 people that make up the SLA community. The difference between the two is significant in my eyes, but could be subtle in someone else’s.
When I was younger I lived in a suburban republican-friendly neighborhood. I would consider it to be a spectrum of different societies in my life. Each of which I have to put on an identity mask in. By identity mask, I mean a lens that people will see me through depending on how I would like to be perceived. I always considered who I was with, and it seems everyone is like that to an extent. In a teenager’s life, you could say there are four different lenses. The “I want to be cool around my friend’s” lens, “I want to be respectable around my teachers and authority figures” lens, “I want to be myself” lens, and “I can do whatever I want online” lens.
Although people filter themselves so that society will perceive them a certain way, society is filtered so that they will perceive it a certain way. I formed my own opinions, due to the people, places, and things that I have interacted within my life. Everyone has been influenced, but someone who stayed in a suburban town all of their life, has not been influenced the same way that someone who has traveled around the world. It is possible that the use of cell phones and social media has had a huge impact on this. People can do anything, they can track their friend’s location, talk to them in an instant, and even send and receive money. People tend to form an online identity, and this can be very similar to who they are, but it can also be different from who they are. Some people post superficial versions of themselves online Often times people feel less vulnerable, and often times they feel so much more vulnerable online.
Before social media existed, people had to go out in order to see or talk to people. Now you can press a few buttons on your phone and be on a live video chat. The reason people are kept from certain parts of society is because their identity is independent. In the article “Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.” The author talks about the effect social media and technology has on society. “In conversation, things go best if you pay close attention and learn how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This is easier to do without your phone in hand. Conversation is the most human and humanizing thing that we do.” The ability to spend your free time watching TV, or going on social media like snapchat adds a new aspect to everyone’s identity. You’re able to connect with people you haven’t seen in years online, while at the same time you don’t need to be connecting with other people in your current life.
I’d say my identity has been totally flipped upside down and inside out in the last three years. In 2016, I was living in a suburban town where the majority of my day revolved around playing ball outside, and hanging out with a couple of friends. Now I am working, or going to school, in an urban environment. Moving to Philadelphia had an instrumental effect on my identity, belonging, and trajectory in life. I remember how different my life was. By no means was my life worse in any way, but it couldn’t have been more different. I went to a traditional school that was very different from SLA and its project-based learning style. Living in two such different societies throughout my life, I think it would be reasonable to claim that they have formed my identity, as a person, as a friend, and as a student.
An article called “1 MILLION WORKERS. 90 MILLION IPHONES. 17 SUICIDES. WHO'S TO BLAME?” was written about Foxconn, a computer hardware company in China, talking about workers who are isolated from having a normal life. “Still, after years of writing what is (at best) buyers' guidance and (at worst) marching hymns for an army of consumers, I was burdened by what felt like an outsize provision of guilt—an existential buyer's remorse for civilization itself. I am here because I want to know: Did my iPhone kill 17 people?” These workers had been affected because of this, and the lack of social interaction had caused them to become mentally sick. There are things like our phones that have an impact on our everyday life, and people work in terrible conditions overseas to make that possible. It seems as if some people in society are more aware of this than others. The people making these cell phones live in a totally different society then we do.
Overall it seems as though identity and belonging are very complex things to figure out, perception by other people seems to play a big role. The way people act is typically dependent on the society they are in. I first talked about the difference between different societies, and the impact living in such different places had on me. I then began to talk about an article called “Stop Googling. Lets talk.” written about the way social media affects people, and society. Finally I wrote about Foxconn, and foreign workers unnoticed relationship with society. Overall it would be fair conclude, the idea that everyone has a place in society is a complex concept to figure out.
Comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Log in to post a comment.