Technology and Personal Idenity

Technology has a great impact on personal identity. In the current culture people are defined often by what they do, associate with or their hobby. One who works with technology is strongly defined by what they do. A computer engineer is often defined by their specific area of specialization. People who often associate with musical instruments are defined as such or use musical instruments as a hobby will also be defined as a musician. Many people often do not take a step back and look at how technology affects the personal identity of a person. These are just examples of how people my be defined by technology, although I believe technology can go much deeper and affect a persons identity.

Personal identity can be portrayed through technology. People are connected today like they never have been before. from text messaging to facebook. People often have less and less face to face interaction and more interaction via technology. An example of this would be someone walking to class and on a phone or sending messages in a class. We care less about our surrounding peers and more about those in our social groups. This is prevalent due to advanced communication technology. In reference to facebook many people may take pictures specifically for others to see on facebook. These may include binge drinking to playing guitar. People who put these pictures to be seen by others are shaping their identity in a way they would not be able to with out the technology.