Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

White, Daniel

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Ely, Christopher

Abstract

Media are constantly evolving and these changes have significantly altered our ways of thinking and our identities. In this thesis I discuss digital media – more specifically the Internet and social media – and their impact on the formation of identity. I undertake this examination by turning to previous changes in media technologies and how they have impacted identity formation. I use salient examples in the form of media personae to illustrate how identity formation is viewed and changes over time. I intend to demonstrate that the advancements made through social media and the Internet have resulted in the formation of “imaginary” identities that provide individuals in the digital era with a great degree of freedom to self-fashion their own identities. This new malleable and multi-dimensioned human identity is the basis for a new forms of social life, learning, and social control.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

117 p.

Identifier

FA00003624

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