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Abstract

The connection between the internet and identity has been the keen subject of many a debate, with various arguments being put forward to suggest it as bad and just as many to counter it as something good. As a relatively new phenomenon, it’s common to see social media at the forefront of these debates, both academic and non, most often trying to explain the links between the latest moral panic and social networking, or even just trying to understand ‘youths these days’, as the term goes.
I argue that identity is not a solid construct, it is flexible and subject to change and development the same way our personalities are. The research conducted for this dissertation sought to explain the ways in which social networking sites can either aid or inhibit the formation and development of identity in young people and to do so I looked at a sample of three sites, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of identity formation based on their basic functions and methods of common usage.

Course: Media Studies - BA (Hons) - C1346

Date Deposited: 2020-10-27

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13587.html