Some theorists and critics claim that people use the Internet to display their i

Question

Some theorists and critics claim that people use the Internet to display their ideal selves (i.e., self-present based on who they would like to be and how they would like to be seen). Peruse your own Facebook profile (if you don’t have one, consider some other way you self-present on the Internet) and your friends’ Facebook profiles (or similar). Describe the extent to which your own and your friends’ online self-presentations portray accurate versus overly favorable images. What impact might these portrayals have on the posters themselves, as well as on others’ views on them?

Explanation / Answer

Real-self is very different to ideal-self. The real self refers to who the really is and the ideal self is who they would like to be. On social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, people want to do what others are doing. They portray their ideal-selves. My friends do not like drinking. They have confessed to me that they think it is extremely bitter and not nice tasting. However, they put up pictures with fancy drinks, being sloshed on it, for public view and display. They want to be a part of the 'cool' gang. Their real self is incongruent to their ideal self. This would result in incongruence of self, where later in life they would be unsure of who they really are. They would always try to fit in and not be their real self. The others would view them as cool and somebody who they would like to be friends with. However, the reality would be unknown to them.

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