Who Are We? Identity in a Social Media Age

WHO ARE WE? IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE Taylor J. Bradman & David M. Gustafson Trinity Evangelical Divinity School ___________________________________ Social media have become a normative part of culture, with both positive and negative implications. More recently, studies demonstrate that social media may contribute to mental health issues. This essay seeks to understand this phenomenon through the lens of self-objectification and self-comparison theories concerning why some who use social media to gain the approval of others as the foundation for their identity still end up unhappy after receiving such approval. The essay proposes that people who engage in this behavior remain unhappy because they do not understand their status as an imagebearer of God, and how images are to function in society. A sound understanding of images is essential. The essay engages Biblical theology as a helpful guide to demonstrate that social identities are to be cultivated and formed through friendship. Friendships help shape who we are as human beings and build a sense of belonging through the organic formation of a community. ___________________________________ SOCIAL MEDIA AND IDENTITY W hen social media were introduced in the early 2000s, they offered something new: the ability to connect with others in real time without being physically with them. As more and more people created online profiles, and their possibilities became apparent, “pent-up demand quickly translated into a broad adoption” (Piskorski 2014: 2). In the beginning, social media unearthed an unknown need: interacting in ways that people would like to in the offline world, but for a variety of reasons, could not do so. Given this newfound aspect, social media satisfied this need by allowing people to communicate in alternative ways apart from the offline world. However, social media now contribute to a host of mental health issues, prominently seen in adolescents and college students (Keles 2020: 80). 2 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES It is now common for some on social media to be more active and unhealthier in their online behavior through a variety of means (Gündüz 2017: 86). Why? Perhaps it is because “machines now seem to dictate via social media one’s interior psychological life by supervening one’s feelings and emotions dependent upon external approval” (Gruenwald 2016: 8). In a similar vein, Uður Gündüz writes, “the self or identity has a psychological dimension such as feeling one’s self as a part of a greater body, sense of security, belonging to a social, emotional, political body or community with affective bonds of solidarity” (2017: 86). What Gündüz is hinting at is intrinsically felt by each person. Everyone longs to be part of something bigger and, at present, social media promises to meet this need by giving people a “customizable identity” with endless possibilities. The purpose of this essay is to survey this phenomenon, and ultimately point out that social media does not deliver on its promises. Instead, it may easily lead to an empty lifestyle filled with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Furthermore, social media’s current focus on image-sharing, which not only adds to a lifestyle that may lead to a downward spiral toward depression, also distorts the image of God by taking one’s focus away from God and onto graven images that ultimately creates an identity crisis in people. Biblical theology can be a helpful guide to reorient how one may cultivate a healthy social identity. This essay explores the image of God via the lens of ancient Near Eastern cultures, Proverbs 3 and John 15. While both passages address the relationship between God and humans, the principles gleaned are applicable for all. The principles highlight that by following Jesus’ model of friendship, a healthy social identity may be formed in the company of friends in an offline setting. Although social media are present in relationships, friends may not use social media to cultivate and deepen their friendship. Instead, they may use more private means of communication, such as phone calls, text messages, and face-to-face interactions. A more common use of social media is to keep up with acquaintances, who are neither a friend nor a stranger. One may also discover that meal-sharing is a great way to cultivate friendships, and in doing so, cultivate an identity as a friend. The majority of the psychological studies cited were conducted by a variety of psychology professors who engaged their students, on a voluntary basis, through controlled social media experiments. While the results are based upon college students, the studies are not limited to college students, as the results are also common among adolescents and IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 3 adults. The essay concludes by offering suggestions on how to harness the tools of social media to enhance offline friendships. SOCIAL MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH Over the last several years, social media’s focus has shifted from connecting people through posts of activities and interests to image-sharing. For example, 2.8 billion people use Facebook, and 1 billion people use Instagram on a monthly basis (Tankovska 2021). In addition, 1 billion people use TikTok on a monthly basis, a video-creating and video-sharing network site (Doyle 2021). In contrast, only 330 million people use Twitter on a monthly basis, which is a text-driven social network site (Tankovska 2021). These statistics prove that social media have become a cultural rhythm in many people’s daily lives. However, it is not without consequence because it is widely known that increased social media consumption may lead to various levels of anxiety, and even depression, often beginning with feelings of sadness, specifically in photo-sharing (Lamp 2019: 704). One of the reasons why photo-sharing may lead to anxiety, and sometimes depression, is because it encourages people to share false realities through edited selfies and yearly highlights to appear as if the content-creator lives luxuriously on a daily basis. This unreality may not only lead to frustration in the content-creator through self-objectification, but also in viewers through self-comparison. For the viewer, issues start to set in when they view attractive images of others on social media. These individuals are more likely to become dissatisfied with their own body image and experience a range of negative emotions and behaviors, including self-criticism, sadness, dysfunctional attitudes, low self-esteem, depression, and addiction (Ryding 2020: 413). Psychologists call this behavior social comparison theory. Madison Kohler and colleagues relate that: “Social comparison theory contends that when people encounter others whom they perceive to be better than them on a relevant or important dimension, it threatens their sense of self-worth on that dimension, and often produces anxiety, frustration, or other negative feelings” (2020: 2). While this theory is not exclusive to social media, it is helpful to understand the direct correlation between social media and negative selfworth. Specifically, when an image speaks to a sense of self negatively, it directly influences one’s level of anxiety and stress (Iwamoto & Chua 2020: 4 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES 246). Sadly, this negative cycle of self-comparison always repeats itself because people follow content in which they are interested. When viewers continuously see images that are highly attractive, in comparison to their own life, this may feed and deepen the thoughts they have about themselves and lead to an increased level of stress, and even depression (Rosenthal 2019: 84). On the flip side of the coin, content-creators of social media often feed off this negative cycle for their own satisfaction, which fuels them to post “picture perfect” images that intentionally and inaccurately portray their daily life. In one study, researchers discovered that those who create false realities of their life on social media, do so in an effort to improve their internalized low self-worth (Michikyan 2015: 61). However, these individuals also live in a depressive state just like their viewers do because of their engagement in content-manipulation (Lamp 2019: 707). While both the viewers and creators experience levels of anxiety and/or depression, creators experience stress because of self-objectification; they are treating “themselves as objects to be viewed and evaluated based upon appearance” (Rollero & Piccoli 2017: 1). With social media, self-objectification defines cultural standards of beauty for women, and muscular standards for men (Feltman & Szymanski 2018). Intrinsic to such behavior on social media is a need for social acceptance, which is often tied to the number of “likes” that an image receives. Correlating to social acceptance is personal satisfaction with the amount of “likes” one receives. The more “likes” someone receives, the more satisfied they are with themselves. But, if content-creators do not receive “enough” likes, they start to have negative feelings about their self-worth (Rosenthal 2019: 77-78). Similar to self-comparison, this process of self-objectification is also repeated. Content-creators continually objectify themselves through photo-manipulation, or “how much skin they show,” in order to gain enough “likes” to satisfy their longing for social acceptance, while experiencing some level of frustration in presenting a false or falsified reality. UNDERSTANDING IMAGES AND THE IMAGE OF GOD The irony is that both viewers and content-creators may experience anxiety and frustration due to how they use social media. Theologically, though, something deeper is happening; social media is teaching users who and what to worship. For viewers, they are worshiping manipulated images rather than God Himself. For content-creators, they are worshiping the IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 5 feelings they get from image “likes” by turning themselves into a god to be worshiped rather than an image-bearer who worships the Creator. This is demeaning to the Christian life because of what social media allows users to do. Given the human proclivity toward self-consciousness and even shame (Gen 3:7-11), digital technology provides a means for people to present and be the “ideal human.” We can digitally manipulate an image of ourselves in order to “fit” the cultural ideals of the human physique. In a Christian worldview, this behavior leads one to become less human because we are worshiping that which is not God (Wright 2020: 43). In brief, social media have become a means for people to worship an image that we or others have created and turned into an idolized deity. Worshiping a god that is not the Biblical God is forbidden for those who believe in the God of the Bible. The reason God forbids the worship of other deities that humans may create via images is because He has already imaged Himself in humans--in men and women--and as such, demands to be accurately represented to the world (Brueggemann 2002: 106). Images, then, play a key role as to how God manifests His presence in this world. Since the image of God was originally an ancient Near Eastern concept, it may help to understand how images were used in that culture in order to rightly use them in the present culture. It is universally recognized among Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern scholars that images were used not only to depict deities, but were also “embodiments of living deities” after the completion of cultic rituals (Levtow 2008: 88). In essence, the image was no longer an image, but the deity itself (Bahrani 2003: 171). However, this only applied to royalty in ancient Near Eastern cultures since non-royal humans were created to serve and care for the needs of the gods (Kessler 2013: 117; Middleton 2005: 149). A significant dimension of the Biblical creation account is that it takes a familiar concept and changes it to reflect God’s intentions for all humans as His image-bearers. Unlike the ancient Near Eastern rituals, God does not make humans divine as He is, nor does He limit His image to social royalty. Rather, God created all men and women in His image and likeness, which means that all men and women are given a royal and governing status (Gen 1:26-28). As image-bearers, we do not manifest God’s real appearance, but manifest or reflect His divine presence and activity within the world (Schmutzer 2009: 6 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES 177). In brief, God intended for men and women to act in His place because He has chosen to rule and govern the earth through His image, as vice-regents with Him (Merrill 2006: 170-71). What this means is that when people look at each other, they are to be reminded of God because He has made people to be His earthly representatives (Smith 2010: 100). This is why understanding of images in the ancient Near East helps to orient using images in the present culture. Images that people share on social media of themselves are not meant to capture the worship of humans. Too often, though, both men and women post falsified, provocative, or seductive images of themselves in order to satisfy their need for social acceptance through the worship of others by engaging in self-objectification. Yet, the social acceptance that they receive is not enough to meet their self-satisfaction needs. Similarly, those who engage in self-comparison do not see their intrinsic worth as God’s image-bearers. As a result, both groups of people end up living wrongly perceived, if not depressed, lives for the exact same reason-they have no satisfaction in life from their identity as God’s image-bearers and depend on other humans for their identity. Those who engage in selfobjectification depend on others for their subjective identity, something worthy of praise. On the other hand, those who engage in self-comparison depend on those self-objectified images to confirm their inner thoughts, and may conclude that “I am a worthless person.” SOCIAL IDENTITY AND THE BIBLE In the search for identity, one of the tasks as Christians is to learn how to navigate social media image-sharing in a way that honors the Lord. However, those who do not believe in the Biblical God still have to wrestle with the same issue: how to create an identity that is not dependent upon social media. The question that all humans have to wrestle with is the “how” of finding an identity. This essay proposes that the answer to this quest may be found in Biblical theology. Articulating pertinent Biblical passages may help humanity find answers relevant across cultures. Social Identity in Proverbs: Proverbs 3:1-8 instructs those who worship the Biblical God how they are to worship and relate to Him. In doing so, God promises to bless His worshipers with a good name among other people. In verses 1-2, the father instructs his son not to forget the law, and to keep his commandments because they will lead to a full life. This is an IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 7 important warning because both forgetting and keeping are tied to “moral aspects in the Old Testament” (Wilson 2018: 80). This is also the traditional way of learning in antiquity as the receiver is instructed to memorize his teaching (Clifford 1999: 51). But, on a theological note, these two verses highlight the message of Proverbs, most notably, that those who obey God will live life to the fullest, and those who disobey God will not enjoy life’s rewards that God gives to obedient children (Plaut 1961: 53). Now, one should not think that obeying God will literally add years to our lives, as our lives are already numbered by God (Job 14:5), and are enjoyable and worthwhile (Wilson 2018: 80). In addition, this full life is characterized by shalom, or peace, and “refers to the state of contentment, pleasantness, health, welfare, and security in which good things are received and experienced without the stress, anxiety, and fear” (Perdue 2000: 97). This is an awesome gift that God gives to those who obey Him, and this should motivate Christians to delight in obeying Him. The exhortation in verses 3-4 intensifies the first exhortation in the opening verses because the son is charged to keep steadfast love (hesed) on his heart, and this word has a rich history within the Hebrew Bible (Murphy 1998: 21). While hesed is often translated as “steadfast love” in the English Bible, the Septuagint translates hesed with two words: righteousness and mercy. Mark Boda notes that this evidence suggests that in Exodus 34:7, the original Greek is “bringing out two aspects of the meaning of hesed; that associated with righteousness and that associated with mercy” (2017: 40). This is a key component of God’s character and demonstrates that “God’s steadfast love means that he holds firm to his covenant commitments, which involve mercy and discipline” (Boda 2017: 40). By looking at this word, we see that God’s activity is rooted in His character; and God’s character is rooted in hesed (Boda 2017: 41). The use of hesed in these verses, combined with how God uses the word, give the image that God’s children are to imitate Him in this way so that our character is rooted in the same characteristic as God Himself, which allows us to find favor not only in God’s sight, but also in the sight of people. Those who are wise enhance their surrounding community with sound advice, and as a result, the surrounding community will think highly of their friend (Estes 1997: 61). This kind of social acceptance is what people long for, but do not look to God for their social approval. Although the approval of man is an 8 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES added gift, the primary blessing is to be approved by God, and His approval is gladly given to those who obey Him. Verses 5-8 articulate two central aspects to one’s relationship with God, namely, trusting and fearing God (Lucas 2015: 63). Tremper Longman notes that trusting God implies that one will not trust in oneself (2012: 113). By definition, trusting God also means giving up the sense of control in one’s life, as this is a quality of having a relationship with God (Routledge 2008: 220). Trusting God is central to a Christians life because it brings us to our knees in surrender to God. According to John Goldingay, we “do not come into a relationship or grow in a relationship with God on the basis of things” that we do, but “through trusting in the promise of the God who has burst into” our lives (2016: 457). In the English translation, verse 6 instructs believers to acknowledge God in all their ways. However, the Hebrew word for acknowledge means “to know.” In Proverbs, “to know” God is to be in a personal relationship with Him (Waltke 2004: 46). So, this verse conveys the reality of living out one’s relationship with God in actions, and in conjunction with verse 5, living out one’s relationship equates to continually and consistently trusting in Him (Wilson 2018: 82). Following this active trust is God’s promise that He will make our paths straight. He will guide us along the right paths in life. This does not mean the path is free of hardships or obstacles, but it does mean that God will lead us down a path of righteousness that is pleasing to Him (Wilson 2018: 82). Verses 7-8 move from the idea of trusting God to fearing Him. Yet, this should not be understood as being afraid of God, in the English sense of the word, because in the Old Testament, the fear of God is synonymous with obeying, worshiping, and being filled with a reverential awe of God (Fuhs 1990: 298). Fearing the Lord denotes forsaking evil and one’s own perceived wisdom, and in doing so, properly aligning one’s own abilities and resources (Longman 2012: 113). The result of fearing the Lord brings physical healing and refreshment to one’s body. Longman writes that this cannot be taken as a promise but something that is generally true (2012: 113). However, Bruce Waltke disagrees, preferring to add that it implies a comprehensive and total healing of the body, including spiritual and psychological healing (2004: 47). Ultimately, God promises to restore all of creation. IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 9 While the primary focus of Proverbs 3:1-8 is articulating how to image the Biblical God, there is an added blessing, namely, that imaging God in a healthy relationship with Him produces a satisfying social identity as well (3:4). For those who do not believe in God, there is still a benefit of understanding Israelite culture, where socializing took place at the city gate. Compared to city gate functions in Mesopotamia and the Bible, the lifeblood of Israeli society took place at the city gate. Unique to Israel was that the city gate was used as a space for public assemblies and social interactions (May 2014: 93-94). It is is in this context that people would be known in their community and develop a social identity (Prov 31:23). Social Identity in the Gospel of John: Concerning identity, John’s gospel records Jesus’ farewell discourse with His disciples. In this discourse, Jesus gives His disciples a new identity: friends of Jesus. Our friendship with Jesus is rooted in His love for us, and is made fully manifest by laying down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13). Despite its messianic connotations to the modern reader, this display of love was normal in Greek philosophy and culture. As Aristotle writes, “the virtuous man’s conduct is often guided by the interests of his friends . . . and that he will, if necessary, lay down his life on their behalf” (1934: 555). Friendship with Jesus is not dependent upon His disciples’ performance, but is given without qualification (Ramsey 2010: 813). The condition that is attached in Greek reads more like an assumption on Jesus’ part that His disciples are already doing what He has commanded them to do (Ramsey 2010: 813). In essence, as Murray Harris points out, “obedience to Jesus marks (rather than makes) Jesus’ friends” (2015: 269). One of the key differences regarding this friendship is that Jesus’ disciples are no longer referred to as servants. A servant obeys his master without knowledge of his master’s plans, but Jesus’ disciples are now His friends because they are now knowledgeable concerning His plans. Jesus has revealed everything to them what His Father has revealed to Him (Carson 1980: 105-6). Furthermore, Jesus attaches a blessing to their new status as His friends, which is that whatever they ask the Father in His name, the Father will give it to them. The force behind this statement is that any success Jesus’ friends have in their ministry is “gained through answered prayer, and only through answered prayer” (Ramsey 2010: 816). For, apart from Jesus, they can do nothing (John 15:5). 10 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES Jesus’ life models for the modern reader what friendship ought to be like regardless of one’s belief in Jesus. Jesus continually put the interests of His disciples above His own to the point of His death and resurrection. The more time the disciples spent with Jesus in community, the more their identity changed. They became His friends because He chose to share intimate details about His Father’s plans with them, which was only made possible through Jesus’ desire to be emotionally close to His disciples. In brief, the more time spent in community, the more the disciples’ identity as Jesus’ friends began to form. The same is true for the modern reader in their own communities. Social Principles Gleaned from Biblical Texts: One of the similarities seen in both Biblical texts is that social identity is formed in community. In Israelite culture, a good name was formed in the city gate, so long as an Israelite was in a healthy relationship with their God. In the gospel of John, the identity of a friend began to emerge when an individual counted the needs of others as more compelling than their own. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, they became Jesus’ friends when He shared intimate details about His life. For the modern reader, these principles help shed light as to how one may form one’s social identity and the mediums used to develop a credible identity. Given these principles, a satisfying social identity is created by having the identity of a “friend,” built through sharing one’s life with the same group of people in an offline setting. SOCIAL IDENTITY AND SOCIAL MEDIA When Facebook launched in 2004, and when Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, Mark Zuckerberg’s goal was to create a digital town square where people could connect with friends, communities, and personal interests (Zuckerberg 2021). For the most part, Zuckerberg has achieved the proposed goal in terms of connecting people, but studies show that social media practitioners use these platforms for different reasons. As explored in this essay, for some, participation in social media may elicit feelings of anxiety, frustration, stress, and even depression due to engagement in self-comparison or self-objectification, which leads to an unhealthy social identity by seeking to win the approval of others at any cost. However, some use social media to connect with acquaintances rather than friends, with the specific purpose of “keeping the relationship alive” or “checking” on those who “are neither close nor a stranger” (Wee & Lee 2017: IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 11 11). One of the reasons for this is because close friends already share life together, and have no need to use social media to keep up with each other (Wee & Lee 2017: 11). This involvement with social media is also supported by other researchers who found that social media are used primarily to maintain acquaintance-type relationships, while friends preferred “more personal means of communication such as phone calls and talking face-to-face to maintain” the relationship (Troilo & Britten 2020: 166-67). Researchers are not the only ones taking notice of this trend. Zuckerberg has noticed it, too. That is why Facebook has updated its vision for social networking around private messaging in order to “build more ways for people to interact on top of that, including calls, video chats, groups, stories, businesses, payments, commerce, and ultimately a platform for many other kinds of private services” (Zuckerberg 2021). This, according to Zuckerberg, is what social media practitioners really want. Perhaps the “re-tooling” of Facebook was undertaken because of how it is being used. Simply connecting friends with friends is no longer the goal of prominent social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Rather, the apparent goal is to mimic all aspects of an offline world. However, this new design for social media and identity appears to be missing an important element that helps create a satisfying social identity-friendship. Friendships take time to cultivate, and in doing so, satisfying social identities are also created because they are being formed in the company of friends. Studies show that those who prioritize offline community on a regular basis experience a better quality of life and better psychological health, while those who use social media to cultivate friendships tend to experience poor psychological health and more feelings of anxiety and depression (Simone 2019: 2909-15). One of the possible causes for this is because in a friendship, one is unable to create who they are, or manipulate their appearance, as easily as can be done on social media. Given enough time, those in friendship see all sides of each other, and choose to rejoice in one’s happiness and weep with those in sorrowful seasons. SOCIAL IDENTITY AS FRIENDSHIP Considering that social media are problematic in fostering healthy social identities, and following Jesus’ model of friendship is to be commended, identity in a social media age should be formed in the company of friends. At 12 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES their core, friendships are personal, chosen, reciprocal, emotionally rewarding, and are concerned about the person as a whole (Portmann 1999: 42). In brief, friendships convey a sense of belonging because the individual is seen and heard for who they are without any filters or alterations. As Claudia Baracchi counsels, friendship ought to be pleasurable and help individuals discover who they are as human beings because it “promotes stable and trusting relationships,” and “exerts wide-ranging care and attention” between friends (2017: 324). Not only this, but friends also help each other carry out their calling through encouragement, sharing the load of burdens, and loving each other without judgement (Daniels 2020: 24). By spending intentional time with each other, individuals grow to become friends, and friends grow to become communities. Communities strengthen the bonds of friendships because of the organic environment where friends grow and flourish together since they are “built by people who are faithful to one another and committed to a shared purpose” (Pohl 2012: 4). While friendships do create a social identity, they are more than a means of creating an identity: they are a committed group of people who grow in life together as a community. In fact, one of the more fruitful ways to express friendship is through meal-sharing. When sharing a meal with another person, it is about a sense of community, and there is immense value upon receiving an invitation to a shared meal, since the invitation communicates to the invitee that they are liked, valued, their company is enjoyable, and their presence is special (Portmann 1999: 42). In addition, meal-sharing is also an expression of the love the one doing the cooking has for their friends. Not only are they sacrificing their time in order to spend with their friends, they are also displaying generosity by sharing their resources with their friends (Pollan 2013: 28). The atmosphere of meal-sharing is also one of belonging since, over the course of time, individuals begin to realize that their individualistic identity is changing into a friend, and “friendship becomes the name of being together freely, of a community not so much of tolerance, but rather of joy” (Baracchi 2017: 333). Meal-sharing cultivates friendships because it inherently brings people together, and is an organic medium to deepen the bonds of friendship. Sharing meals also invites deep conversations to take place, and as a result, eating food together becomes an activity to discuss the joys and challenges of life. IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 13 However, when social media are redesigned to address the growing trend of offline friendships, it is helpful to understand how some may harness the tools of social media to enhance their offline friendships and social identities. On deliberating how to use social media to enhance offline friendships and find more rewarding identities, specific suggestions come to mind that may help both novices and experienced users to navigate better. For instance, social media platforms may be utilized for: (1) Encouraging group discussions: People love to be part of groups; it makes individuals feel as if they are part of something greater. Specifically, dialoging through social media enables friends to keep in meaningful contact with each other when they are unable to be together in face-to-face settings, as in the current pandemic. (2) Event planning: Being able to plan an event and invite friends has never been easier. Whether it is a dinner party or a bonfire in the country, having the ability to create an event and simultaneously connect with friends on social media is incredibly useful. Not only does it save time, but it also allows people to feel more connected, as each invitee is able to see who else is invited and how many people are going. It also helps people schedule accordingly and helps reduce the occasional “double booking.” (3) Healthy image-sharing: Although image-sharing may lead to unhealthy behavior, it can also be used to remind each other of exciting events in each other’s lives, such as sharing pictures together at a baseball game, a road trip, day trips doing tourist activities in their city, or sharing pictures of family members and important events in an individual’s life apart from their friends. (4) Private messaging: While text messages and phone calls are great, sometimes they are not available for use. If a friend is traveling or going on an internship overseas, private messages on social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends, as social media rely on internet connectivity, not cell phone service. And, with the use of video-calling in Facebook’s Messenger or WhatsApp services, private long-distance communication is of immense value to keep up with friends. (5) Joining existing communities in offline settings: One of the unique aspects of social media is that one may find a community for any given topic. 14 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES This is a great tool for those who have moved to a new city or are looking for offline friendships. For example, the website meetup.com is dedicated to finding offline communities for those who are interested in joining and meeting new people. Just to name a few, there are reading communities, foreign language communities, Bible study communities, poetry communities, writing communities, et al. ENJOYING SOCIAL IDENTITY This essay has sought to understand the intentions behind social media behavior that may sometimes be captive to a false notion, misrepresentation, or even a lie in the search for social acceptance and identity. Given the popular cultural focus on image-sharing, social media may not only distort how the image of God is viewed, especially for Christians, but also how human beings see one another and oneself. As a result, those who engage in self-comparison and self-objectification find themselves in a loop or spiral in search for acceptance and identity that may lead to feelings of sadness, anxiety, frustration, and stress, if not plummet to clinical depression. To remedy this current cultural crisis, it is helpful to utilize the tools of theology to develop healthy social identities through friendships, and to see how friendships may be cultivated and lived out. These principles form the basis for a satisfying life, which is found in the company of friends. Not only do friendships create places of feeling loved and belonging, but they also help people discover who they are. This is in direct contrast to social media, which enable self-comparison and self-objectification, as well as the worship of those viewed as objects instead of people. Typically, social media have been used historically to keep up with acquaintances rather than friends. Friends are already in-tune with each other’s lives and have no need to “check-up” on each other through social media. However, people are more prone to feelings of stress, anxiety, and frustration when they rely solely on social media for their social identity and satisfaction. This is because people are meant to enjoy life with other people. People are not meant to live isolated lives, but are to be in community where friendships can be cultivated, and where one’s social identity can be formed. In conclusion, friends are able to enhance their offline friendships in more convenient ways of person-to-person interaction and communitybuilding. This means that interacting with friends on social media should not IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 15 replace offline communication, since doing so limits the ability to foster lasting and satisfying friendships. One of the reasons for this is because friendships are meant to bring enjoyment to one’s life and social identity. Crucially, friendship is a place where people can be who they are without feeling pressured to “alter” their appearance or “put on a filter” to make their lives seem more appealing, in contrast to current image-sharing trends on social media. In a nutshell, offline friendships create a safe environment to cultivate social identities alongside one another as friends continue to grow, navigate, and share life together through face-to-face interactions, phone calls, text messages, and meal-sharing. REFERENCES: Aristotle. 1934. Nichomachean Ethics. Ed. Jeffery Henderson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bahrani, Zainab. 2003. The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Baracchi, Claudia. 2017. In Friendship: A Place for Exploration of Being Human. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 25 (3): 320-35. Boda, Mark J. 2017. The Heartbeat of Old Testament Theology: Three Creedal Expressions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Brueggemann, Walter. 2002. Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. Carson, D.A. 1980. The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus: An Exposition of John 14-17. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Clifford, Richard J. 1999. Proverbs. The Old Testament Library. Eds. James L. Mays, Carol A. Newsom & David L. Peterson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. Daniels, Dharius. 2020. Relational Intelligence: The People Skills You Need for the Life of Purpose You Want. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Doyle, Brandon. 2021. TikTok Statistics--Updated February 2021. Wallaroo (6 February): online. Estes, Daniel J. 1997. Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9. New Studies in Biblical Theology 4. Ed. D. A. Carson. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Feltman, Chandra E. & Dawn M. Szymanski. 2018. Instagram Use and SelfObjectification: The Roles of Internalization, Comparison, Appearance, Commentary and Feminism. Sex Roles 78: 311-24. Fuhs, Han Ferdinand. 1990. Theological Dictionary of the Old Testmament. Eds. G. Johannes Botterweck & Helmer Ringgren. Tr. David E. Green. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 16 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES Goldingay, John. 2016. Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Gündüz, Uður. 2017. The Effect of Social Media on Identity Construction. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 8 (5): 85-92. Gruenwald, Oskar. 2016. The Postmodern Challenge: In Search of Normative Standards. 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Picture Perfect: The Relationship Between Selfie Behaviors, Self-Objectification and Depressive Symptoms. Sex Roles 81: 70412. Levtow, Nathaniel B. 2008. Images of Others. Biblical and Judaic Studies 11. Ed. William H. C. Propp. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Longman, Tremper III, ed. 2012. Proverbs. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Lucas, Ernest C. 2015. Proverbs. The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary. Eds. J. Gordon McConville & Craig Bartholomew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. May, Natalie N. 2014. Gates and Their Functions in Mesopotamia and Ancient Israel. In The Fabric of Cities: Aspects of Urbanism, Urban Topography and Society in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, eds. Natalie N. May & Ulrike Steinert. Boston, MA: Brill: 77-121. Merrill, Eugene. 2006. Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic. Michikyan, Minas, Jessica Dennis & Kaveri Subrahmanyam. 2015. Can You Guess Who I Am? 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Something to Chew On. U.S. Catholic 78 (12): 28-32. Portmann, Adrian. 1999. Friends at Table: Cooking and Eating as Religious Practices. Implicit Religion 2 (1): 39-49. Ramsey, Michaels J. 2010. The Gospel of John. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Ed. Gordon D. Fee. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Rollero, Chiara & Norma De Piccoli. 2017. Self-Objectification and Personal Values: An Exploratory Study. Frontiers in Psychology 8 (23 June): 1-8. Rosenthal-von der Pütten, et al. 2019. “Likes“ as Social Rewards: Their Role in Online Social Comparison and Decisions to Like Other People’s Selfies. Computers in Human Behavior 92: 76-86. Routledge, Robin. 2008. Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Ryding, Francesca C. & Daria. J. Kuss. 2020. The Use of Social Networking Sites, Body Image Dissatisfaction and Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Systematic Review of Psychological Research. Psychology of Popular Media 9 (4): 41235. Schmutzer, Andrew J. 2009. Be Fruitful and Multiply: A Crux of Thematic Repetition in Genesis 1-11. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock. Simone, Melissa, Christian Geiser & Ginger Lockhart. 2019. The Importance of Face-to-Face Contact and Reciprocal Relationships and Their Associations with Depressive Symptoms and Life Satisfaction. Quality of Life Research 28 (11): 2909-17. Smith, Mark S. 2010. The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. Tankovska, Hristina. 2021. Number of Active Instagram,Twitter and Facebook Users Worldwide. Statisa: online. Troilo, Jessica & Bob Britten. 2020. Facebook Use in Maintaining Close Friendships and Acquaintances. Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences 7: 160-69. Waltke, Bruce K. 2004. The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Ed. Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Grand Rapdis, MI: Eerdmans. 18 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES Wee, Jieun & Joonhwan Lee. 2017. With Whom Do you Feel Most Intimate? Exploring the Quality of Facebook Friendships in Relation to Similarities and Interaction Behaviors. PLoS ONE 12 (4): 1-16. Wilson, Lindsay. 2018. Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Ed. David G. Firth. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Wright, Christopher J. H. 2020. “Here are Your Gods”: Faithful Discipleship in Idolatrous Times. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. Zuckerberg, Mark. 2021. A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking-Updated March 2021. Facebook (12 March): online. _____________________________________ Taylor J. Bradman, M.A. student in Intercultural Studies; David M. Gustafson, Chair, Mission & Evangelism, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2065 Half Day Road, Deerfield, IL 60015. _____________________________________