McGinnis 1

Aly McGinnis
English 230: New Media and Writing
Dr. Sergey Rybas
March 25, 2015
Response #4:
Exploring Digital Identity: Beyond the Private Public Paradox
Stacey M. Koosel
Stacey Koosels essay, Exploring Digital Identity: Beyond the
Private Public Paradox, alerts the reader of the Internet and how its
usage is reshaping the way we, as citizens, perceive things in both the
offline and online world. For example, Koosel explains how the world of
multi-media is rapidly transforming the way we communicate, and how
this change will drastically influence society in a way that would be
counterproductive, this change in culture and communication would
have far reaching and dangerous repercussion, including the shift from
literate man and culture to tribal man a culture in which privacy does
not exist (Koosel 156).
In saying this, Koosel reminded me of my argumentative essay in
which I claimed how technology, specifically social media, is not only
reinventing the way society communicates, but also redefining the
modern relationship into one that lacks intimacy and understanding.
Koosel makes a similar argument in her essay when discussing the
influence of technology, the dawn of personal computers and the

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accessibility of the internet has changed the way people interact with
media and with each other (156). What is interesting with the way
people interact with each other is whether or not they are interacting
through their offline persona or online persona. As Koosel points out,
digital identities are performers who mask their identity to become
something or someone else. However, I wonder if this applies to all
people who participate or perform using technology. Does someone
who chooses to be on a minimal amount of social media platforms
wear a different kind of mask than the user on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and SnapChat?
This idea of defining the mask-wearing user is similar to and
reverts back to the David White & Alison Le Cornu essay we read at the
beginning of the semester, Visitors and Residents: A New Typology for
Online Engagement, which focuses on categorizing users by their
technology and internet knowledge. Although different, I think its
important to note that technology has been so influential among
society that academics are now finding the need to incorporate it in
the way people are categorized. As Koosel suggests, this categorization
will ultimately distinguish the literate man from the tribal man; the
only question is whether the literate man will be defined as the one
who joined the performers, or the one who resisted the need to lose
their privacy and continue as a part of the passive and interactive
audience.

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