The Search for Identity in the Era of the Micro Self
Our identities might be less integrated than we think.
By Dr T J Jordan
Unless we’re struggling with multiple personality disorder, we probably have a relatively well-integrated sense of self. Or do we?
We know that we code switch our language from situation to situation, as well as from person to person. The language we use at home with our partners is different from the language we use at the office with our colleagues. And the words we speak to our five year old children are different from the words we speak when we’re out drinking with friends.
We also code switch our appearance and our behaviors. How we dress changes, as well as how we move and hold our bodies.
Our “micro self” shifts as we go from situation to situation. As our social contexts have become more complex, we’re asked to change our identities in more complex, yet subtly nuanced ways. But the extents of these shifts in the self that we present to the world have meaning for our emotional wellbeing.
