Debating Social Media: Is it a Platform for Expressing True Self?

This essay presents a debate on the topic of whether social media serves as a platform where individuals express their true selves. The debate includes definitions of key terms such as social media, post, and virtual persona. The arguments explore the notion of true self, the existence of individuals in social media, and social constructs that influence online behavior. The affirmative side argues that social media allows individuals, particularly teens, to express themselves more freely due to the reduced pressure of face-to-face interactions. The opposing side contends that social media facilitates the creation of fake personalities and can lead to negative behaviors. The essay concludes by suggesting that social media can only be a place for true self-expression if an individual is authentic in their real life. The essay references works by Boyd and Marshall to support its arguments.

Running Head: MEDIA POWER DEBATE
Media Power Debate
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1MEDIA POWER DEBATE
Debate on “That social media is where I keep my true self”
Speaker 1: Today we are going to discuss about the topic “Social media is where I keep
my true self”. As you all know, this is a much debatable topic and hence, this particular topic has
been chosen. For those who are new to the topic or need to know a bit more about the keywords,
here are some definitions.
Social Media: First we need to discuss what social media is. Basically social media is an
open virtual platform where various users can interact with each other freely. It gives the
freedom to a user who wants to share ideas with others without even knowing them personally.
Post: A post is small or medium note that a user publishes on which wall in the site.
Virtual Persona: It is a virtual and imaginary identity that a user may create while
interacting with other users of the site. While some people do it for security purpose, so others
create such fake persona for unethical work in the sites.
Now, the problem presented here is that while many people refrain from using social
media, a majority of the people around the world invest a lot of time in social media. Some
researchers have said that social media is the place where the current generation of people keep
their true self instead of in the real life. While this statement itself is debatable, we will try to
find both positive and negative arguments on this topic.
First, I am going to introduce the team members.
We have six team members (including me) in which, there will two sub teams of three
people each. I will represent the sub team who will deal with affirmative arguments on the topic.

2MEDIA POWER DEBATE
Now for my team, the following discussions are to be made.
 Notion of true self and redefining it
 Existence in Social Media
 Social Construct
Speaker 2: Let us now proceed with our topic. I am first going to explain the notion of
true self for this debate. A true self can be defined as the actual persona of a person that reflects
the original character of the person. However, some teenagers who do not want to use true self,
especially in social media, often use imaginary persona as a mask.. According to Boyd (2014),
when the common and young generations of users fail to exhibit normal life like behavior at
home, they often show their true behaviors in the social media.
Speaker 1: So why is this happening? Why is the young generation showing so much
interest in maintaining persona in social media and refraining from the same in the real life? I
think the root of the answer may lie in the fact that scope of face to face communication is
slowly getting reduced. Due to the extensive use of social media, the teens are more interested in
chatting through the media using their smartphones instead of directly meeting up and talk. As a
result, they are psychologically moving away from their families and at one point start to think
they do not really exist in the real life.
Speaker 3: However, we should focus on another point in this matter. Teens these days
feel much more comfortable in social media as it is a platform where two individuals can interact
with each other without having to physically show their emotions to the other people during the
chat. There are many teens who are too shy to interact with each other freely in real life while in

3MEDIA POWER DEBATE
the social media, they feel much more psychologically free and independent. As a result, they
can reveal their true selves in the social media.
Speaker 2: Supported by some of the researchers, I also feel that there is a great
possibility that the “true self” does not actually exist. Furthermore, social media is never a
platform to show true self to others. Social media has very convenient tools to create and act as a
fake personality while interacting with other users (Marshall 2016). The teenagers appear to be
in their true selves during interaction with others but actually turn out to be even worst versions
of their selves. It is really very easy to get into quarrels, throw insults and make fun of others
who they do not even know.
Speaker 1: Hence, finally I would like to conclude my statement here with the words that
social media can be a place for an individual to be in his true self only if he is in his true self in
his life.

4MEDIA POWER DEBATE
References
Boyd, D., 2014. It's complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
Marshall, P. David 2016, 'Introduction: Persona in Formation'. The celebrity persona pandemic,
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minn. Pp.1-6.