Reaction post on Erving Goffman’s “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”

Erving Goffman’s book, “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”, is a sociology book of which he depicts the importance of everyday human interaction through the use of the image given off by theater. As stated by Goffman, everyday interaction can be associated with theater, and the people seen in everyday life can be likened as to the actors of the stage. As such, when described into real world context, when a certain individual makes contact with another individual, he or she will try to create or control the impression that others might make out of him/her by changing the appearance, setting, manner, and etc, just like as one would do when they are thrown onto the stage and present as an actor. This lead to the creation of the term by Erving Goffman himself, Dramaturgy.

Although I haven’t read the book as of the moment, I do have a certain amount of expectations as to regarding what I shall be discovering as I read the book in the future. Regarding about my expectations on the book itself, I shall be delving in on the certain process as to why everyday interaction during our everyday living is compared to theater and the reason why most of us, in general, would like to make a varying impression onto others and how they try to change it in favor of getting a better image for themselves.

There are certain elements regarding about the front, which is described from the book itself “the part of the individual’s performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance” that Erving Goffman mentioned, and they are the following: appearance, setting, manner, and performance, . There are various meanings about the five elements that were given, but thanks to various reviews from various sources, I can summarize most of them. Appearance is how the actor or individual portrays themselves, such as social status, gender, ethnicity, clothing, and many more. For the setting, it is where the situation is held and as to how the person can act accordingly to it. Manner is how the individual conducts themselves in order to show the audience of how they will perform. And finally the performance is what the individual’s general activity towards the audience, their actions to be exact.

As mentioned within the book, there are two regions, or rather stages if akin to theatrical performances. The first stage would be the “front-stage” where in the actors, or in this case individuals, show the impression or how they want to present their idea of themselves unto the audience, as well as how the audience’s expectations of them should affect their behavior on the stage. The second stage would be the “back-stage” where the actors or individuals can relax, be themselves, and be the person who they are in front of others.
For my thoughts about the two stages given above, I can say that it’s quite interesting as to how the author interpreted how we individuals would like to show ourselves unto others, differentiating from who we truly are when we are not putting up an act, as well as how we are when we are acting when we are in a certain stage.

Other than the opinions and things that I have learned from above, all in all I believe that the contents of the book, despite skimming it for a short period of time, is very interesting to those who are interested as to how individuals in our society try to interact with each other, as well as how they would like to get some kind of good image in order to gain the favor of others.

Sources:
Crossman, A. (April 20, 2017). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Taken from:
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-3026754

University of California. (June 30, 2016). Analysis of “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” Essay. Taken from:
https://studymoose.com/analysis-of-the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-essay

revisesociology.com (February 4, 2016). The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life – Extended Summary. Taken from:
The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life – Extended Summary

Mini RRL. Social Media with Depression

The advancement of technology has been steadily growing throughout these past few years. Thanks to the joint efforts of various tech geniuses and gurus, how we do our jobs and everyday living has forever changed. Majority of teenagers today are now immersed within the digital age that is currently happening. Although the introduction of many digital technologies such as the internet and social media along with it has brought many benefits to us worldwide, there are also many effects on the masses because of them. The impact of the rapid advancement of technology today is now having an effect on how we perceive the real world, as well as many different factors within it.

“Rapid digital technology advancement is significantly impacting young people socially and economically.”

This article talks about on how most teenagers prefer to socialize via social media instead of going out to personally meet with other people. According to Ofcom(2015), young people ranging from the ages 16-24 has doubled the time they spent online in a week, to the span of 27 hours.  Despite that two-thirds of teenagers find online communication easier than personal interaction, it has been found that the usage of social media has an isolating effect on them. It is also said that teenagers who is active on social media during the night has the potential of disrupting their sleep pattern and can also increase the likelihood of getting depression and anxiety in it. It’s been said that thanks to digital technology today, how we approach and do basic things like communication, dating, and many more is being changed.

Source:
Fothergill, L. (May 16, 2017). “Rapid digital technology advancement is significantly impacting young people socially and economically.”.  http://www.independent.co.uk/student/istudents/rapid-digital-technology-advancement-is-significantly-impacting-young-people-socially-and-a7014656.html#gallery

“Is Social Media Making Me Miserable?”

Social media is evolving very quickly in terms of the contents and how the people, or users, interact with it. A recent study by Holly Shakya, a social media researcher in the University of California,  has shown a link between the usage of Facebook and the well-being of the person wherein that the more you use Facebook over time, you are most likely to experience negative effects on your physical and mental health. It was also said that the use of Social Media has been stressing out people and affecting their anxiety levels around the ages of 18-22. As stated by Anna Vannucci, “the more time spent on it in a day, the greater the association and likelihood with anxiety symptoms and disorders.” It seems that taking some time off from social media can likely brighten up your day rather than making you sad throughout.

Source:
Heid, M.(Aug 2, 2017). “You Asked: Is Social Media Making Me Miserable?” Taken from:
http://time.com/4882372/social-media-facebook-instagram-unhappy/

 

“Using Many Social Media Platforms Linked With Depression, Anxiety Risk”

Based on this research, it was found that having multiple social media platforms is strongly associated with depression and anxiety among the young adults as they spend more time on them. An analysis was shown that the 1,787 people that was asked about their use of 11 different social media platforms, people who was reported to have seven or more platforms have three times the risk of getting depression and anxiety, as opposed to those who had two or less platforms. As stated by Dr. Joanne Davila, “Using multiple platforms might lead to these changes in mood, but it could also be that people who are depressed or have a propensity for depression use more social media sites,” and for their field of research, they have to think about what’s the cause of it. The understanding of social media is one thing, and how we use that knowledge is another. Regardless of how it is interpreted and used, social media has become an important part in our lives nowadays.

Source:
Zagorski, N. (Jan 17, 2017). “Using Many Social Media Platforms Linked With Depression, Anxiety Risk”. Taken from:
http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2017.1b16

Short story

I was once a guy who wasn’t really much the center of attention. I was just your normal everyday high school student who would go to school, accidentally fall in sleep in class, getting bullied by the school bully; all that stereotypical stuff you would expect in a school… well, it is quite different whenever I’m with him. Let me tell you a story about a guy named Renzo and how I got cooped up in a certain situation that will unfold. Renzo can be compared to being one with the popular kids in any other school; akin to a football athlete. Buff, cool, and handsome, what kind of girl wouldn’t fall for a guy like him? Despite such looks, he is also extremely smart. His way of thinking is filled with logic, processing things systematically, and is always calm in whatever situation. I suppose you can say that he’s like Batman. Anyways, that kind of person is my friend, my one and only close friend really. He’s the only who can understand me, and I’m the only one who can understand him. We can be compared to brothers, never leaving behind another and always helping the other. Despite the claims I make towards him, I don’t really know much about his background except as to how he came into my life one day and changed how I perceive the world.  Little did I know about his work in depth, but I do know that he works as a freelancer in programming and designing websites or something like that. I was actually blessed with the gift of ignorance because under the guise of being my close friend, Renzo is actually the world’s greatest hacker and cyber criminal in the world. Nicknamed as the “Whistleblower”, he’s infamous for releasing extremely confidential files from top corporations all around the world, exposing all of their dark secrets and experiments being conducted under the disguise of trying to improve humanity. Alas, I was cooped up into this secret world of his because of a small glimpse I took in his laptop screen whilst he was away. I never knew what kind of situations I would wind up into, but for sure I know I was in deep trouble.

 

A few months have already past since the last time I had a normal life, but now I’m running away as a fugitive and an accomplice of Renzo. After that small incident of doing a very innocent act of peeping into his laptop, I was found out and discovered by the Pentagon, who actually bypassed all the security my friend had set up. After being discovered by them, I knew that I had just blown the cover of my friend. The moment he came back, he already noticed the look on my face and accepted the dark reality of what was going to happen to us now. Despite being found out, he never abandoned me. Knowing that I’ve already delved too deep into his secret life, he brought me along and escaped, running away from what I used to call “Home”.

 

 

How long has it been since I last saw him? My one and only friend throughout this journey of hiding and running away? How long have passed ever since I left my normal life? It’s been too long, far too long. The memories of the times where I was in the state of bliss with ignorance have gone, the experiences of a normal, monotone life forever lost, the happiness of which I felt before all this chaos ensued, disappeared. What about him? What about Renzo? I still remember the times where we had to escape a sticky situation, and it was always him who would save our behinds from getting locked away forever. Whenever I saw him work, he’s quite diligent actually. He was always careful even about the small details that is in front of him, and I always see him serious when working. I can still remember the times wherein we’re resting after running for some time and successfully hid. Whenever I’m having a conversation with him, how he speaks is quite intriguing. He would always retort whatever I say regarding about my own opinion in a certain subject, but I know that his words is quite truthful. Nevertheless, he sometimes loosens up and can be quite sarcastic. But now he’s gone, just a figment of my memory.

 

 

How long has it been since the last time I saw him? I do not know the answer for that question. But after running for so long, I’ve finally realized it.

In reality, he never actually existed. He was just all in my head, or rather, I am him.
I am him and he is me. He was just a personality I’ve created because of the traumas and stress I’ve accumulated when I was a child. It’s funny, right? How I actually thought that I had a friend beside me when in fact, I was only just fooling myself to compensate for what I’ve done. It’s funny, really.

What happened to me after such realization? Well, that’s for another story.