Modern Identity: Freedom or Social Crisis?"

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We are living in the era when there is a tendency to blur the boundary of reality and imagination. With online spaces, one can not just identify themselves, but also experiment with who they can be. The internet has turned into the domain where belonging is commonly constructed based on very specific qualities or experience. This leads to a very crucial question, are we experiencing an increase in individual freedom or a more intense hunting of self in a detached world?

Human need to belong has always been there but the internet accentuates it. Previously, the circles of people were restricted to those that surrounded them; nowadays, everyone can find a community that shares even the most peculiar elements of his personality. Although this may be empowering, it may also lead people to more extremist identities since being unique draws attention. Ordinarily, being ordinary seldom counts in online. Due to this, certain people might feel compelled to identify themselves in very specific or unorthodox ways so as receive a feeling of visibility and appreciation.

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This is increased by social media such as Tik Tok and Instagram. Their algorithms are aimed at rewarding content that becomes attention grabbing and odd or unexpected posts tend to perform better than usual posts. This eventually leads to a scenario where it is not only tolerated but even encouraged to be different. The greater the level of engagement a post gets, the more it is promoted and this may influence people to portray themselves in a more extreme or exaggerated manner than they would otherwise have chosen.

Meanwhile, there could be more larger social pressures behind these identity trends. The contemporary life is both stressful and lonely and most of the time, individuals feel lonely even though they are always connected. New identity or belonging to a very specific community may provide comfort, meaning, and the feeling of power. In this respect, weird identities can be seen as a coping mechanism an imaginary means of getting out of uncertainty or displeasure.

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Yet, any given society that functions relies on a certain degree of consensus of reality. Although personal expression is essential, biological or physical limits should not be disregarded entirely as it may bring confusion in aspects where common understanding is needed like law, medicine and education. Social stability requires balancing between one person and the common norms.

In the future, the trends can possibly transform the way the future generations perceive responsibility and maturity. The identity can be perceived as something dynamic and changing instead of being fixed. It may lead to creativity and openness, or it may also become more difficult to define what is expected of a person as an adult and as an accountable person.

In the end, we might not be experiencing complete freedom or the decline of common sense, but instead we are experiencing a time of compromise between the individual and the community. New trends have a high chance of being doubted by society, which is likely to be cautious. The struggle will be to learn how to be open and at the same time being grounded in a shared reality.

Thanks for reading my post I'm inviting @goodybest, @abdullahw2 and @mesola to participate.