How_Does...

How Does Gender, Race, and Class Develop the Digital Self' The basis of self begins at birth. Male or female, we are born into the world with our first fragment of identity. Family rounds out what we know about ourselves at an early age, which adds more fragments to the idea of self. As we grow into what we presume to be ourselves, we are introduced to the world as a whole. History has taught us that we are not all the same. It introduces racism and the differences in class and how it has been clearly practiced in the past; however, much has been done to correct the immutable and vast differences in race, gender, and class status in the United States. The classification of being either white or black, male or female, was how an individual is categorized in the early 1900’s. Today, the digital era has broaden that categorization to include the digital self. Quicksand by Nella Larsen, reveals important and relevant issues about the author’s own personality and life events. Helga Crane, the main character, is based on Larsen herself. Being born to a black father and a white mother, she strives to attain and establish a self-identity. Crane finds herself tangled in the web of sociological complications because of her mixed race. Crane states, “Negro society, she had learned, was as complicated and as rigid in its ramifications as the highest strata of white society. If you couldn’t prove your ancestry and connections, you were tolerated, but you didn’t ‘belong’” (34). Belonging is what Crane strived for, along with happiness and fulfillment. She was faced with racism, discrimination and rejection from her family, further proving that she was alone. Quicksand illustrates the profound pressures Crane felt because of the conflicting demands of being both black and white, and the class struggle enforced on her because of it. Throughout the history of the United States, discrimination against race and gender has been documented, creating various classes according to race and gender. Racism has been defined as “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others;” while discrimination is described as being “treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit” (Dictionay.com 2012). Discrimination encompasses a much larger circumference than racism. 
Based on all the factors imposed upon us, it is difficult to find our true self-identity. In Helga Crane’s personal situation, negative implications of race and discrimination encouraged her to search for her self-identity. Self-identity is an awareness and recognition of being a separate individual. It is multidimensional and may include but is not limited to physical and sexual identity, occupational goals, religious beliefs, and ethnic background. As technology evolves, online personas are added to the laundry list of what encompasses “the self.” The question, “What do you do'” is often mistakenly asked when what was meant is “Who are you'” It is extremely difficult to say who we are as a person as we answer this question without any preconceived judgment. When an icebreaker question like this is asked, it is often times a way to categorize individuals according to what is important to the perceiver, which may not always be true. We mostly identify with outward expressions of ourselves, for example, career, family, possessions, class and friends. All of which reveal some aspects of our identity to a certain extent. The idea of self has become a broader topic as technology expands. Identities are no longer constructed through interaction solely with family, friends, communities or the work environments, but now to include the virtual realm. Virtual communities have undoubtedly become an extension of ourselves, although the person that is described online may not be the true self. Interactive chat rooms and online spaces are often seen to be gender-neutral or egalitarian spaces. Sherry Turkle, author of “Identity Crisis,” described online interaction spaces as places where an individual could take on multiple identities in ways never before possible and indeed bring about changes in the conventional notions of identity itself (103). Of course, identities are negotiated, reproduced, and characterized in a variety of ways in online interactions, which may not be understood without considering the actual individual. Within the more popular genres, considerable attention has been given to the idea that virtual spaces allow for fundamentally new constructions of identity. Other virtual communities, such as social networking sites promote self-interpretation of identity. For example, Facebook is a website where image is everything. It gives the freedom of uploading as much or as little of the person you want to simulate. Our biology affects how we construct the idea of identity. Gender, race, age and other physical features all influence how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. In the online virtual world, individuals are no longer constrained by their physical bodies. Users have full control over how they want to present themselves, what roles they want to play, and how to control their gender, age, race, and any other biological feature imaginable. These self-created online characters represent an individual’s persona, which can be more than one, and how they can create any kind of character they want to present to others. The concept of identity is changing with technology. No longer does race, gender, and class solely represent who we are, but the digital era allows for another dimension of what the self is. Social networking sites are a new phenomenon, and because we developed it, it is now apart of our routine and us.   We are in an era of changing concepts, and identity is one humans’ protect. These online sites expose different aspects of our true identities, allowing us to live a life we couldn’t possibly live in the offline world. Online identities are at their infancy, and will undoubting mature and create better networking capabilities and online worlds that are as real as the offline world. We can only wait and see what new sorts of problems can arise from what lies ahead.   Work Cited Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. . Larsen, Nella. Quicksand. New York: Macmillan, 1971. Print. Turkle, Sherry. "Identity Crisis." The Digital Divide: Arguments for and against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2011. 99-111. Print.