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Introduction:

Identity and youth:

Images play a very important role in how we see the world and how we form the perception of this

world for ourselves. Constant online social interaction causes one to form different idea in mind.

Selfie gives a sense of ownership. (Tiidenberg, 2015) Throughout one’s life a person is developing

their identity and self-perception. However during the teenage one becomes more conscious of

personal self. We start building our self-awareness. Here it is important to understand what identity

really is. Identity can simply be defined as who we are as a person. This is further shaped by the

social surrounding in which one inhabits and the environment in which we breathe. There are two

types of identities that one can associate with. One is self-identity and other is social identity. Self

-identity is one where a person has an opinion about themselves while social identity is the one

which people have created about the person in their surroundings. This can be better explained if

a person is nervous normally he tends to get carless whenever faced with stress. The person can

be normally known as clumsy by his peers (Butler, 2008).

Selfies:

Taking picture of one self has become a common act these days. With the smart phones easily

available it has become a common act for people to snap pictures of themselves. It has been termed

as an act that depicts some sort of mental illness or a compulsive disorder in young generation.

Nonetheless it has not stopped the young generation and even adults to snap pictures of themselves.

It has become a necessary act in daily routine. People want to depict to others regarding the type

of life style that they lead and it is a means of perfection exhibition to people. Instagram and

Tumbler are social sites that are purely dedicated to pictures and have become a new way of
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expression. Young generation has found it a means of expression of their personality and life.

People have started identifying themselves with these pictures. It has become part of culture to

capture moments and occasions in form of selfies (Lupton, 2017).

Identity:

Characteristics are the personalities and appearances, public relations, characters, and collective

affiliations that describe who one is. Individualities can be fixated on the past that is what had been

accurate about the person, the current what is factual regarding the person in the present times, or

the coming times in which what a person presumes of becoming, the person one senses indebted

to attempts to become, or the individual one worries to become. Personalities are familiarizing,

they deliver a meaningful emphasis one's consideration on few but not other sorts of the instant

framework. Collected, characteristics make up one's self-image defined as what originates to mind

when one thinks of oneself. In accumulation to self-notions people also know themselves in other

ways. They have self-concepts and self-spirits, as well as descriptions haggard from the other

feelings of what they sound like, what they sense like psychologically, a feel of their bodies in

movement. The self is valuable because generally a person observes their characteristics in making

selections and because these individualities are positioned, realistic, and in agreement to the

constraints and limitations of the instantaneous situation (Daphna Oyserman, 2012).

According to another study, dissimilar involvements of self are a result of diverse unconscious

simplifications about self, becoming overriding at dissimilar times, in diverse communal or

traditional situations. These simplifications, or self-schemas, are nourished by numerous mindful

and unconscious contributions, which may be of individual or social beginning. Logically, the

level of self-realization regulates the individuality of a being, that is, the individual’s conscious or

instinctive intellect of uniformity over time. Psychodynamic investigators are concerned in

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evaluating the level of self-realization in a being and assisting the individual in attaining advanced

levels of self-association, if conceivable. It is a state systematized by the initiation of a specific

self-schema and may contain mindful distinctiveness capabilities connected to the qualities of that

schema. Self-actualization is the general gathering of self-schemas. Individuality is a cognizant or

instinctive feeling of uniformity over the period of time (Horowitz, 2012).

Identity in my personal opinion stands in this day and age with one can show to others. It is more

connected with the social opinion then one’s estimation of one self. Facebook and social media

has started affecting our mindset regarding what one should look like or how one would be

acceptable in the society (Roger Cooter, 1994). Here if take another example is the consciousness

of women regarding their physical appearances. So much this idea has affected women that the

women if chubby or fat consider themselves at the lowest level of the social platform. They believe

themselves to be ugly and unacceptable. They identify themselves worthless. In addition the

society and environment in which we survive women pride themselves with the fact that they have

attained a size zero. This has resulted in women going through multiple problems that range from

physical issue to the mental problems. Some undergo depression while others face bulimic

problems. This is due to the fact that we have started putting tags on people in literal terms using

social media such as face book and other related similar websites (Storey, 2009).

Feminism is a hot topic that is on the go everywhere. Women have started following the notion

regarding every field in life. Having said that it does not actually apply regarding every factor but

just to follow the trends that are present everywhere people tend to do so. It is imperative the

distinction to be made. For this reason it is important that people have their own identity and have

the ability to comprehend the pros and cons of situation they are associating themselves with. The

social pressure of environmental factors should not be sole reason to associate one-self with certain
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ideas or ideologies. This is the reason the stereotyping has been tried to be broken down. To

remove the adverse effects of following the “it” culture are quiet apparent. People similarly adapt

to drugs because everyone in their circle is doing the act. Facebook has created many pages to

promote the other side. One example of pages where being fat is promoted to be attractive. Many

fat models are shown with the pictures of large amounts of food. The pictures promote the fact that

eating is sexy instead of dieting. It actually attracts men to look at chubby or healthy women instead

of skinny and boney ladies.

Identity formed in Youth:

Youth identity formation is through many internal and external factors. The stress is mostly on the

outer factors. The social factors affect far more than the internal factors. The parent practices and

the culture the youth nurtures affect the outcomes of identity. (Best, 2011) The parents have a

strong impact on children while they are growing up. A child looks up to the parents and how they

carry themselves around. Most children start copying their parents by the age of five. The next

step is of copying their teachers and any other person who has some bigger chunk of time spent

with them. In the process if child is exposed to negative culture or practices they tend to mold

differently. Similarly child is left alone due to family limitations, they turned out far differently

from the children who are center of attention. (Anne, 2016)These factors are ingredients in shaping

out a child. Identity is sensitive matter that normally affects a person throughout their life time. If

someone grows up insecure as discussed in regard to weight matters their identity might keep on

changing with changing circumstances while at other times people who are deeply rooted in what

they believe they have far stronger stance in who they are. These people also come out as stubborn

and aggressive. They tend to have strong identity and usually turn out to be leaders or change

makers.
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Popular Culture:

Popular culture in general terms can be defined as something that is liked by all. It is culture that

a wide range of following. It can also defined as high level of acceptance. Popular culture of selfie

is something that is liked and practiced all around the world. The culture of taking snap of oneself

using the smartphone or webcam and then uploading it on social media whether it be facebook or

the tumbler (DanielleNielsen, 2015). Our society has become technology fanatical and this act is

one of many things that has people going. Not only has the youth now older generation has also

become a salve to the concept. To take things a step ahead numerous filters have been brought in

and affects that actually help in enhancing the simple features of a person. The impact of such

filters has infused a culture of delusional reality. People have started hiding behind the technology

to interact with one another and hide their imperfections. (KarlaHoff, 2014)This shows that a

general era of low self-esteem can be observed. People associate themselves more with the opinion

people have formed about them than the self-perception. Technology is infused in our lives at

every point. We start our day with the technology and end with the same stream. So much use of

the social media has made us addicted to what people believe about us rather than what we perceive

about our self.

The number of likes or amount of attention that our post is receiving helps us determine the worth

we have. People undergo depression if they are ignored. When a picture is posted we keep on

checking the comments and likes that people give on that particular post (Reitzes, 1981).The

instability in youth and their temperament’s can be explained through these habits. Grownups

incline to critic futuristic generation by the modern culture that is around them. Not only is this
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not a precise depiction of the futuristic generations’ character itself, but, as said before, there is

nothing fundamentally wrong with popular philosophy.

Maybe this adverse implication that people have with popular philosophy is owing to the fact that

popular culture is characteristically related with teenage girls. Though false, due to stereotypes,

individuals have the predetermined concept that teenage ladies are unwise, have piercing chuckles,

and are ludicrously infatuated with youth male bands. It is not the case. It varies from situations to

situations. (Prakash, 2011).

Identity depiction:

Identity depiction is through the selfie type taken. People use social media to transmit the message.

To depict and show the social stature and class people use this as a tool to update the people in

their surrounding regarding the changes in their life. Technology has made everything in our life

fast paced and short lived. People now crave attention more than ever. To constantly keep the

traffic going they are constantly upgrading their social accounts with the latest update what is

happening within their lives. The best way of communicating this is through a picture. Nobody

reads through letters or long paragraphs anymore. As already mentioned that life has become fast

paced so picture speaks a thousand words. As much people are happier in their skins they tend to

indulge more and more in such activity. It is a source of communicating any event such as getting

married or getting graduated from university. (Olivier Klein, 2007)The amount of attention and

type of one liner comments helps in determining the level of acceptability an individual has in

society. People have largely started seeing themselves from the eyes of others then their own

opinions about themselves. In fact opinions about our-selves are largely formed by the opinions of

others. We tend to share our feelings and ability through them. We resist any study that tends to
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negatively comment on the idea of selfie or constant up gradation of our accounts with every single

detail of our lives.

Too much exposure of the personal information also tends to person at a risk to be targeted by

bullies or people who spread negativity. The public accounts tends to give access to people in

greater number to analyze a person on the every factor of their life. (Hall, 1993)This actually

creates insecurity and instability in people regarding their life style. As too many people start

having opinion about every move of life it confuses a person. Some people have weak personalities

cannot walk through the situation strong headedly. Selfie has become a way of seeing ourselves

as individuals. A level of illusion is surrounding us that is undeniable. Having said this it is not a

wrong thing to follow what is hip in present day as long as the peer pressure is manageable and

one knows where reality ends and the illusion starts. It should not be only way of judging ourselves

as a person (David Nemer, 2015).Technology should not be overpowering enough to make a

person depressed or over confident for that matter regarding the abilities of a person. The culture

that we are blindly are following these days may not be perfect but we cannot simply stay away

from it. It is imperative that we define the necessary limitation for our individual self to follow the

band wagon. It should not take one towards depression or any other form of extreme pressure. It

has become an obsession that we cannot seem to shake of but that is something one needs to

determine for themselves.

No makeup Selfies:

Taking a photograph and posting on social media has become quite a routine practice. Celebrities

have now changed the outlook by positing no makeup selfie. They want to promote the idea that

less is more. They have started promoting that to be in in your natural form is not an embarrassment
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of any sort. Filters and makeup should not define who we are as people. We should be confident

in our original skin without any sort of shame in the idea.

Conclusion:

Youth is much infatuated with the use of social media. Smart phones and 4G internet has made

this easier to do so. Everyone is far more interested in in each other’s life and concentrating all

energies in adapting what is the in trend that they have forgotten what their own identity is. If

social media promotes something we blindly follow the trend which has increased the frustration

in general for people. People want to have a perfect outlook whether it be fictional or real. A

fantasy world has been created which people cannot seem to shake off at all.it is important that

one can distinguish the two so that a healthier life can be led.

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