Looking Glass Self

What really stuck with me from the presentations last week was the Looking Glass Self concept. It’s the idea that our identity is formed from what (we think) other people think of us. If the world sees us as a jock, we’ll adapt that identity. This is especially interesting on social media sites where the new user is asked to write something about themselves. If you go through that part of people’s profiles, it’s often the most bare. Every other aspect of their profile is filled out and they may use their account every day, but they never went back to fill in that “About Me” section. This is because we’re being asked to write what we think describes ourselves, yet in every other aspect of life, we identify with what other people describe us as. So the “About Me” section proves a challenge to many.