The Self in the Digital Space: Exploring the Implications for Young Adults in Defining their Self on Social Media

Abstract

Young adults are immersed in a digital world, captivated in a social media space in which they have acquired the power to design interactions based on desired gratifications, ultimately, presenting an ideal version of the digital self. According to the Self-Concept theory and the Presentation of the Self theory, individuals can present many versions of the self that may not align to the real self, which can have further implications on the individual’s development of identity. This begs the question of what benefits and challenges young adults may face in defining their concept of self when presented on social media. As such, this paper aims to address these benefits and challenges from an exploratory and constructivist approach to understand these implications of defining the concept of self on social media. A systematic review of the literature revealed that young adults present ideal versions of the self on their social media profiles by tailoring their posts to show higher social status, idealised images and biographies, and ultimately present their desired version of self. Whilst this may create a higher digital self-esteem, it also results in incongruent notions of self, negatively impacting self-esteem and creating a lack of self-concept clarity outside the digital space. Lacking in the literature is a focus on how the digital self is curated and how the challenges faced in this endeavour can be approached. Therefore, we recommend that further research focus on these areas and to provide solutions to the challenges faced.

https://doi.org/10.26803/MyRes.2024.04