TEMELYAN 1

Temelyan, Edgar
Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
September 21, 2016
Project Web 1st Draft
Do we shape our own identities or does technology do it for us? Technology has
advanced so rapidly in the past ten years that we have begun to rely on it on a daily basis. If you
left your phone at home would you leave it for the night or would you go back for it? I know I
would turn back immediately because I rely on my phone for when I am lost, when I am trying to
avoid people at a party and most importantly so I can stay connected to my social media pages
throughout the night. There will always be the few that will say that technology is negatively
shaping our society and the majority is the older generation of family members such as our
grandparents, great aunts and uncles. While I understand why this might be the case, for children
to stare at their phones for the majority of the day instead of playing outside, the amount of
positive factors that technology has to offer overcomes the negative. Technology has had a
positive impact on shaping identities, online and the affect in the real world by allowing social
connections for family communication, digital identities for career enhancement, and social
identity for our own portrayal.
Technology has affected our lives in the real world by helping us stay connected. The
transition from high school to college is never easy for any student because they are going into a
world in which they are unfamiliar with. This process is especially difficult for the students that
must dorm away from home because they are away from family for the first time. There are
students that are not on the same maturity level or even at the psychological level to multitask

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with college classes and get a stable job to support their own weight. Where must a student turn
to when they are in need of money? Of course their parents is the answer because whom else has
a child relied on their whole live. This is where the use of cell phones takes place. A study took
place in Montana State University stated, Our results showed that cell phone was a prevalent
tool for family communication and revealed parental financial contribution as an unexpected
reason for family connection. The majority of the students that were interviewed in the study
concluded, phone calls are the main source of communication with family. Some used email in
order to send images due to the parents not having any other way to receive photos. The study
also stated that the use of text messaging and emails were a major factor for undergraduates use
of technology because the students would use texting for contact with each other on campus and
email for contact with their teachers, business, and the university. Denise, a student that
participated in the interview stated my...[school] email gets full really fast, so I check that one
pretty often. But my regular email not so much. Im used to texting. Its much faster. Denise
also uses social media such as Facebook and Myspace to stay in contact with her cousins and
friends from high school. This concludes that with the use of technology students build a finer
connection with parents, friends and family, regardless if they are dorming at a great distance
from home.
Technology began shaping identities online when the first social media website was
released to the public through the Internet. The question that should be asked to undergraduates
today is would you feel comfortable stepping into a job interview and submitting your Facebook
or Instagram page on your resume? If not then why do you present yourself on your social media
page in a way that you would not feel confident enough to submit it to the job of your dreams?
The concept that most dont understand is that the digital identity that we build on the Internet is

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available for anybody to view, even to the person that holds the decision of giving you the job
the you dream for. Social media pages are now being viewed before the acceptance of a job
application. Many dont see the use of creating a well-presented digital identity, which is why the
University of Texas at El Paso conducted a study with forty-four students that lasted through a
year of research. The research included students that were all involved in early education, near
half were elementary teachers and the rest were pre-teachers. Once the digital identities were
created in a professional matter and the study had completed, the teachers and the students that
were all involved in the study had new opportunities ahead of them and the teachers were able to
enhance in their careers, as well as advanced their skills in technology knowledge. The parents
were requesting for their children to be placed in the classroom of the teacher that had a
technology based class so that their child can have a rich education with new teaching methods,
this was also a benefit to the teacher because they had advanced in their career. As for the
fourteen students that were pre-teachers the article states, Fourteen of the students who were
pre-teachers were offered employment in a tight job market. The pre-teachers stated that the
digital identity definitely helped them get employed and gave them an edge in the inter views
and paper work submissions. This goes to show that with the correct resume, digital identity and
education, advancing in a career and finding a job is always possible.
Social media is one of the most major topics of discussion in todays society, which is
why our shaped identities online are considered before we are accepted into a job. Social media
is used the portrayal of an image that you want the world to see you as. For students that are
entering the college environment identity exploration is what takes place in the first couple years.
According to an article written by the Faculty of Health Sciences, from The University of
Sydney, Sydney, Australia, Alcohol is a key component of identity exploration for many young

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people, yet few studies have investigated identity construction in relation to problematic
drinking. This quote states by using alcohol for identity exploration there have been cases that
have led to drinking problems in the students future. The study that took place in the University
of Sydney concluded that the alcohol-identity is portrayed for popularity in social media website
such as Facebook. According to the article participants utilized a variety of photographic and
textual material to present alcohol as a component of their identity on Facebook, with over half
having selected an alcohol-related profile image. This quote states, in order to make their social
media pages popular the students profile images were all associated with alcohol. Students do
not understand that when they portray images like this on their social media pages this has an
affect on their digital identities. For a job interviewer that has never associated with these
students, to see what they are presenting on their social media, the first thought that comes to
mind would be that the student is a regular drinker. In conclusion these images not only lower
their chances of getting a job they also lower their own personal image for social popularity and
increase the chances of having problems with alcohol in the future.

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Work Cited Page

Palmer, Betsy, et al. "Undergraduates, Technology, And Social Connections." College

Student Journal 48.2 (2014): 281-296. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
AINSA, TRISHA. "College Students' Digital Identity: Perceptions Towards Employment
And Career." College Student Journal 50.1 (2016): 47-52. Academic Search Premier.

Web. 19 Sept. 2016.

RIDOUT, BRAD, ANDREW CAMPBELL, and LOUISE ELLIS. "'Off Your
Face(Book)': Alcohol In Online Social Identity Construction And Its Relation To Problem
Drinking In University Students." Drug & Alcohol Review 31.1 (2012): 20-26. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.