The Search for Identity

In 2010, the Pew Research Center recorded that 61 percent of our generation of “Millennials” or people born after 1980 said that we have a “unique and distinctive identity”, but where does this sense of identity come from and what is it? I think that because our generation was exposed to relatively advanced technology at an early age, we have more self-confidence in our ability to learn and learn more quickly than previous generations. This self-confidence that we have when it comes to technology is very apparent in our constant use of social networking sites.

However, using social networking sites is not just a way to kill time. Every time we log onto Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, we are learning (like we did when we were kids) about ideas and cultures that are different from our own.

My most recent learning experience came from watching a series of videos on a YouTube channel called “LAHWF”. It seemed strange to me that the title was a bunch of random letters, and I wondered if there was a point in watching videos with a title that did not mean anything to me. After watching an “extra” featuring the channel’s owner, Andrew Hale, I realized that the title meant “Losing All Hope Was Freedom”. This quote has been said by characters in movies such as Fight Club and Office Space who were able to find their true identities when they stopped caring about what other people thought.

The videos followed Hale as he put himself in awkward social situations such as asking strangers to kiss him and continuously staring at people until they noticed. Although the videos were just humorous pranks, Hales had a bigger picture in mind. My interpretation of the channel is that people can and should be themselves. Hales’ mission seems simple, but sometimes people lose their self-confidence when they don’t embrace their own personalities.

Because of YouTube, Hales has been able to reach and get the attention of a much larger amount of people than he would've been able to without the help of social networking sites and other technology. If learning about technology gives both sharers and readers the ability to gain confidence through posts, do we really need more face to face interaction? 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

When I began to think about what it means to be "cultured", I thought of it as the identity of a whole nation. However, in the United States, we do not have a common identity because besides Native Americans, most of us have blood lines that originated in other countries. The common bond between us comes from our ancestors' bravery in escaping the turmoil of the homeland. 

As Americans, we are both survivors and innovators because we strive to better ourselves, not because we have all the answers to success. It is Clifford Geertz's 1973 explanation of culture in "From Interpretation of Culture" that resonated with me the most because he claims that it is the individual that chooses how to react to their experiences. 

“The concept of culture I espouse…is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning.”

The optimism of our ancestors continues to course through our veins today, but do we see the act of building “webs” as an opportunity to make something of ourselves? Our culture, as a nation and as individuals, is defined by the decisions we make. Make them count.