Lost identities – hidden identities

Abstract

We all live in a world where everything happens fast and all the time. My attention span, our attention span, has reduced to a few seconds – especially when consuming content on social media platforms. It doesn’t matter whether it's on Instagram, TikTok or on Newspapers. They all have one thing in common: algorithm. The algorithm gets to see you what it wants to see you. Everyone has a profile where your interest are saved and then the content is presented to you to seek your attention. At the end, we all live in a filter bubble.

We get overflown with information. So much, that we have no time to actually understand, what we are looking at nor actually analyzing it. We are unable to differentiate the information. What is real? What is fake? What is real and gets declared as fake? Or vice versa? What is a conspiracy theory and what not? As we get overflown with information, it gets harder to differentiate the truth from the wrong.

The danger of this is: how does an algorithm control my and our world view? This also relates to identity. A person‘s identity develops through life. Is it possible, that we as humans are being manipulated through the straight views on social platforms?

The thesis pursues the question, whether social media and the associated technical achievement are transforming individuals into network societies with lost identities. Do social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and the like lead to individuals withdrawing from or even losing their identity? Or do they obscure identity for a certain moment?