Information, Technology, and Society in Asia 222

As we increasingly come to live our lives online in digital mediated spaces, the image of the self becomes more plastic, performative, and contingent. Anthony Giddens argues that the self in post-modernity is a reflexive project—an enterprise that we work and reflect on in order to fashion the story of who we are, how we came to be, and what we hope to become. Like celebrities in film and television, we have become the performers of our own lives for dispersed audiences across multiple media platforms. In the process, the distinction between our public and private lives becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, necessitating, like public relations, the careful management of our self-image. Our followers and friends become the audience in a staged performance that demands the constant cultivation of attention through self-disclosure, exhibitionism, and emotional labor. In digital spaces—with the intimacy of communication mediated by platforms, algorithms, and interfaces—how do we express feelings and immediacy, or pursue social and relationship goals? What impact does living our lives online have on our identity, self-esteem, communication, and sense of community? In this assemblage of the human and non-human, how are the social affordances of technology shaping our posthuman futures?