who am i in the digital world essay

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Who Is Your Digital Self? – Simple Essay Example

Who is your digital self (essay example).

WHO IS YOUR DIGITAL SELF? – The world has evolved and from our manual self we also have changed into someone that it has become.

For many years now, technology is of top news in society and along with its development are people who are also adapting to it.

Some people managed to stay put as to their actual self but there are some who became affected by this evolution of technology that they also came to change the way they are in the world of its advancement or what it should be called having a digital self.

Social media is the number one technology platform where we engrossed ourselves into and that’s where we discover our digital self. I bet each one of us has at least one social media account.

Social media is the number one technology platform where we engrossed ourselves into and that’s where we discover our digital self. I bet each one of us have at least one social media account.

I tend to be someone I’m not in the real world and that’s something I have discovered about myself. With that being said, I think we have these personalities that we thought we don’t have but when exposed to different situations will surface out.

It’s got its advantages because compared to my real self I am more confident and freer but likewise it has its disadvantages. Being in social media, I tend to be more open thus myself being subject to greater vulnerability.

Having different personalities doesn’t directly imply being a two-faced person but it just shows that you can be more than what you are now. You can be way better from who you are in actual life and that’s a good thing.

The digital world could be the place where you can enhance yourself and be able to apply it in the real world thereafter.

READ ALSO: Do Grades Define Individual Competency? – Essay

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Understanding and Creating Your Digital Self

Like it or not, we all have a digital self..

Posted August 23, 2010 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

Like it or not, we all have a digital self—a mask that we put on to engage the technological world.

Physician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicot once proposed a theory of self which posited there is a "true self" that is the instinctive core of our personality and must be nurtured and realized. This is in contrast to the "false self" that is created to protect the "true self" from insult and danger. The takeaway is, we all have a "true self" that is complex and fragile, but ultimately, is our essence. In an attempt to share that self with the world, we engage our decoy selves to manage the day-to-day anxieties and challenges that come before us.

This blog engages thought and discussion about our digital self. For the past two decades in the mental health field, we have seen countless individuals explore and navigate the many aspects of their self-identities. Put another way, the digital self has become a frequent visitor on the couch. We have treated patients who have become divorced over Facebook affairs, couples who met on Match.com and wound up happily married, adolescents who became suicidal due to cyber- bullying , single moms now with the flexibility to work at home, and the embarrassing consequences of "drexting" (aka drunk texting).

In the last 15 years, we have been introduced to:

• World Wide Web
• Online shopping
• Cell phones
• Internet gambling
• Internet pornography
• Search engines
• Dating sites

Let's be honest here: Who hasn't struggled with their digital self- identity ? All of this technology has come at us so fast and furious, that we haven't had the time to think about how our relationship with it shapes our very identity.

If we can begin to understand this slice of who we are, then we can shape our digital self into a self that is more closely aligned with our true self, which has a sense of integrity and connected wholeness that Winnicot would have said harks back to the early stage of development. If we are unable to take control in defining our digital self, then we become increasingly more dependent on this digital reality.

As I sit in a San Francisco café writing this blog, a mother and her preschool age boy are sitting next to me. The boy has made a sort of rocket out of his juice box. He says excitedly, "Look what I did with my juice box," not one, two or three ... but six times, each louder than the first. The mother is texting. She looks up at him on his sixth attempt of connecting with her and says, "Um, yes, we will leave in five minutes." He crushes his rocket.

In psychological terms, this lack of interaction is referred to as an empathic failure and will possibly have consequences. Children remain developmentally concrete for many years and cannot comprehend who their parent is communicating with or why. They just experience the disconnect and the fact that something they don't understand is coming in between their relationship with their parent.

How could this seemingly attentive and undoubtedly loving mother create better technologic boundaries to protect her relationship with her child? How could she better define her digital self in a way that is more congruent with her true self? How did this mother end up inadvertently prioritizing her relationship with technology (texting) over her son at that moment in time?

In such a short span of time, how is it that we have learned that when our phone buzzes with a message we MUST respond? In this blog, I am not suggesting that you should throw your phones and computers into the ocean, but rather to explore ways to develop a deeper level of understanding as to how your relationship with technology impacts your primary relationships, and how it is, as a result, defining you.

Tamara J. Hicks, Psy.D ., is co-founder of Potrero Hill Psychotherapy in San Francisco and provides psychotherapy to adults, children, couples, and families.

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At any moment, someone’s aggravating behavior or our own bad luck can set us off on an emotional spiral that threatens to derail our entire day. Here’s how we can face our triggers with less reactivity so that we can get on with our lives.

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Essay on Living in a Digital World

Students are often asked to write an essay on Living in a Digital World in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Living in a Digital World

Introduction to the digital world.

We live in a digital world, where technology impacts every aspect of our lives. From communication to education, shopping to entertainment, digital technology plays a crucial role.

Communication in the Digital World

Digital technology has transformed communication. We can now connect with people worldwide instantly, thanks to social media, emails, and video conferencing.

Education in the Digital World

Digital learning has made education more accessible. With online classes, students can learn from anywhere, anytime.

Shopping and Entertainment

Online shopping and digital entertainment have become a part of our daily lives, providing convenience and variety.

Living in a digital world has its challenges, but it also offers numerous opportunities and conveniences.

250 Words Essay on Living in a Digital World

The advent of the digital world.

The digital world we inhabit today is a creation of rapid technological advancements, fundamentally altering the way we live, work, and communicate. This transformation has been so profound that it has ushered in an era coined as the ‘Information Age’.

Impact on Communication

The digital world has revolutionized communication. Social media platforms and instant messaging apps have made it possible to interact with anyone, anywhere, at any time. This instantaneity, while fostering global connectivity, also challenges traditional notions of privacy and personal space.

Learning in the Digital World

Education has been democratized by the digital world. The internet offers a plethora of resources, enabling anyone with a connection to learn virtually anything. However, the digital divide still persists, highlighting the need for equal access to digital resources.

Work in the Digital Era

The digital world has reshaped the professional landscape as well. Remote work, digital nomadism, and gig economy are now viable career paths, thanks to digital technologies. Yet, these bring new challenges, such as job insecurity and work-life balance issues.

Living in a digital world is a double-edged sword. While it offers unprecedented opportunities, it also presents unique challenges. As digital citizens, it’s crucial to navigate this landscape mindfully, leveraging its advantages while mitigating its drawbacks.

500 Words Essay on Living in a Digital World

Introduction.

Living in a digital world is a reality that has become increasingly pervasive in the 21st century. This digital age, often referred to as the Information Age, is characterized by a shift from traditional industries to an economy based on the processing and manipulation of information. The digital world has transformed every aspect of our lives, from communication and education to entertainment and business.

The Digital Landscape

The digital landscape is dominated by the internet, mobile technology, and artificial intelligence. The internet has become a global platform for communication, information exchange, and commerce. Mobile technology has made the internet accessible anywhere and at any time, leading to an always-on culture. Artificial intelligence is automating tasks, making decisions, and even creating content, fundamentally changing the nature of work and leisure.

The digital world has revolutionized communication. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have transformed the way we interact with each other. They have made it possible to maintain relationships across vast distances, share moments instantly, and collaborate in real-time. However, this has also led to new challenges, such as online harassment, privacy concerns, and the spread of misinformation.

Impact on Education

Education has also been profoundly affected by the digital world. Online learning platforms, digital textbooks, and educational apps have democratized education, making it accessible to people regardless of their geographical location or socio-economic status. Yet, the digital divide, the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not, threatens to exacerbate educational inequalities.

Impact on Entertainment and Business

The entertainment industry has been reshaped by the digital world. Streaming platforms like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube have made it possible to consume entertainment on demand. Similarly, in the business world, digital technologies have disrupted traditional business models, leading to the rise of e-commerce, remote work, and digital marketing. However, these developments have also raised issues related to job displacement and data security.

Living in a digital world presents both opportunities and challenges. It has the potential to enhance communication, democratize education, revolutionize entertainment, and transform business. However, it also poses significant risks, such as privacy violations, misinformation, educational inequality, job displacement, and data breaches. Navigating this digital world requires a nuanced understanding of these dynamics and a commitment to addressing the associated challenges. As we continue to shape and be shaped by the digital world, it is crucial to ensure that it serves the interests of all, not just a privileged few.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Digital
• Essay on Digitalization
• Essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Teens in a Digital World

• Posted August 19, 2022
• By Jill Anderson
• Counseling and Mental Health
• Families and Community
• Human Development
• Technology and Media

Harvard researchers and Carrie James  are bridging the gap between adults and teens by providing a teen-level view of what it means to grow up digital today. 

In their new book, Behind Their Screens: What Teens are Facing (And Adults are Missing) , they share data from a multiyear survey of more than 3,500 teens across the United States. Their research delves into complex topics like how teens are using social media to be politically active and engaged (and the challenges that arise), what they think about sexting, and the ways that their online behavior and friendship dilemmas change over time.

Weinstein and James — both principal investigators at  Project Zero , based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education — argue that adults need to move beyond blaming screens and instead empathize with what it means to be a teen in a digital world. Educators, especially, can play a unique role in helping teens navigate their complex digital lives. 

“Teens were clear with us that they want and need more support around so many issues they’re facing behind their screens,” Weinstein says. “But even adults with the best of intentions — parents, teachers, coaches, and more — too often misunderstand what teens are up against and then miss the mark when they try to help.”

We spoke with Weinstein and James, who elaborated on their findings and shared ways in which educators can lead in helping teens navigate their digital worlds.

We hear a lot of parental concern about what to do when it comes to teens and social media. But what about the unique role of educators in this conversation?   Carrie James: Educators can create space for young people to explore the real tensions and digital dilemmas they routinely face in their connected lives. Teens told us about everyday decision points that give them pause: When a friend is struggling and reaching out for support at all hours, what’s the right boundary between being an available, “good” friend and disconnecting for my own self care? In a digital context where performative posts and over-the-top comments are the norm, how can I be authentic? What should I do if someone I really like is asking me to share a sexy picture? Should I re-share violent videos to raise awareness about what’s happening in the world, even if the videos will be triggering or harmful to peers?

Questions like these, that reflect teens’ actual pain points, are powerful entry points for relevant learning and classroom discussion. The ways students navigate these situations in their real lives have implications for school climate, too. Over the last few years, we’ve been working closely with Common Sense Education to translate key insights from our research with teens into usable classroom lessons that lean into the thorny dilemmas they face. We’re especially proud of the Thinking Routines and Digital Dilemmas hub we co-developed with specific resources to address digital habits, social emotional scenarios, and civic dilemmas.

“Teens were clear with us that they want and need more support around so many issues they’re facing behind their screens. But even adults with the best of intentions — parents, teachers, coaches, and more — too often misunderstand what teens are up against.”

In recent years, we’ve witnessed a trend in “challenges” taking place on social media that are sometimes hurtful and disruptive to children’s lives or even to others. When do these trends become harmful, and when should teachers or school administrators act?

Emily Weinstein: It feels like there’s always a new and dangerous social media “challenge” to warn against, whether it involves sunburn art, climbing up milk crates, planking in dangerous places, or attempting to eat Tide Pods. As with so many things, social media contributes to the rapid spread of a new and, in this case, dumb ideas.

We shouldn’t wait for a new trend to emerge to act, though. We need to talk early and often about “challenges” and other kinds of harmful content and information students come across online. We want to have these conversations before students are in the position of trying to decide whether or not to take on the latest challenge themselves. Talk to students about how they make sense of content they see on their feeds: How do they think about viral challenges? But also, how do they make sense of emerging news and information? How do they decide if something is real or fake, wise or foolish, worth trying or important to avoid? 

When we open up conversations like these, we create opportunities for teens to identify for themselves where their go-to approaches might be falling short — leaving them misinformed or even at risk. From there, we can support needed skills and the dispositions to be alert to digital misinformation, dares, and more — and to make careful decisions. 

Your research recognizes the importance of adults using empathy when it comes to teens and social media. What does this practice look like for educators and school administrators as they try to balance distractions in the classroom?

James: We talk about the principle of “empathy over eye-rolling” because we’ve seen its power again and again. The impulse to roll our eyes when we see teens tethered to their phones or obsessing about a social media post is real. But our research gave us a deep appreciation for what teens are up against — these technologies collide with developmental impulses to explore their own identities, to connect with peers, to be liked in ways that are genuinely hard.

When we can authentically tap into empathy for what it’s like to grow up with social media and smartphones, it changes the tone and tenor of our conversations. It creates a natural impulse to get curious (“Why did you post that picture?”; “Why did you decide to livestream that fight from the parking lot?”). Again and again, we’ve found that students’ answers reveal dimensions of complexity that we as adults just hadn’t considered. We can and should hold clear boundaries about appropriate school behavior. But when our conversations, rules, and decisions are informed by a real sense of empathy and understanding, we’re more likely to design interventions that work.

"Talk to students about how they make sense of content they see on their feeds: How do they think about viral challenges? But also, how do they make sense of emerging news and information? How do they decide if something is real or fake, wise or foolish, worth trying or important to avoid?"

Do you see a role for social media in the classroom or in schools, particularly when it comes to civic engagement and activism?

Weinstein : Absolutely! One of our most surprising and interesting set of findings connects to the complex tensions around civic activism and social media. Our research captured a profound shift over the last almost decade in the ways teens experience politics online. Teens in 2013 told us being political online was optional. Now, that’s no longer the case. Today it can feel expected and essential — and what’s harder, there are so many ways to get it wrong. Teens can be “punished” by peers for expressing the “wrong” opinion on an issue, or for sharing the “right” perspective on an issue at the wrong time because another issue is more urgent. Posting “regular” content, like pics from hanging out at the beach, when a national crisis is unfolding can be grounds for being called out of touch, and even for being cancelled. 

If we think about the role of schools in preparing students to become engaged citizens, it’s obvious we can’t ignore the ways social media is a facet of civic engagement that requires attention as part of civic learning. There are obvious topics, like misinformation and filter bubbles. But there are also less visible puzzles that teens face on social media where the civic and interpersonal collide: Teens told us that friendships can be at stake based on what they do or do not say online about hot button issues, from Black Lives Matter to abortion rights to presidential politics. 

We’ve tackled some of these issues in collaboration with our colleagues at Common Sense. They have a few brand new lessons that lean into digital civic dilemmas, including cancel culture, conspiracy theories, and algorithms. 

How can educators help teens develop agency in their digital lives? Why is this important?

James: In so many areas of digital life, we saw evidence from teens of a struggle to feel and to be in control. Examples teens shared include when they are told to take care of their digital footprints, but they can’t prevent peers from posting things they would never want online; when someone asks for nudes and they feel like every decision including saying “no” is a lose-lose for reasons adults may not recognize; when they care about a struggling friend but also want to disconnect. And the list goes on. 

Digital agency is an undercurrent in many of the struggles we heard young people describe. This is notable because of the connection we know exists between feelings of agency and overall well-being. People cope better with stressful issues when they believe they have some agency and control. 

When we talk directly with students about tech-related dilemmas and struggles, we create the occasion to build skills, strategies, and confidence for our students to manage situations that arise in their real lives.    An educator we interviewed in the course of our research captures the spirit of what we’re looking to support — specifically, teens’ decision-making “at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night.” This can mean having go-to language to respond to a snap from a romantic interest asking for a nude or to kindly (but firmly) set a boundary with a friend whose texting has become overwhelming.

The reality is that so many of the ways we currently approach digital life in our schools and in our classrooms fall short. We’re not leaning into today’s challenges, and as a result we’re not meeting them. But this doesn’t have to be the case. When we better understand what our students are facing in their connected lives, we’re better positioned to meet their actual needs. 

Additional resources:

• Lesson Plans for Civics and Digital Life
• Digital Dilemmas and Thinking Routines to Empower Students
• About "Behind Their Screens," by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James
• Harvard EdCast: The Complex World of Teens and Screens

Usable Knowledge

Connecting education research to practice — with timely insights for educators, families, and communities

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The Complex World of Teens and Screens

Photo by Trent Parke/Magnum

You are a network

You cannot be reduced to a body, a mind or a particular social role. an emerging theory of selfhood gets this complexity.

by Kathleen Wallace   + BIO

Who am I? We all ask ourselves this question, and many like it. Is my identity determined by my DNA or am I product of how I’m raised? Can I change, and if so, how much? Is my identity just one thing, or can I have more than one? Since its beginning, philosophy has grappled with these questions, which are important to how we make choices and how we interact with the world around us. Socrates thought that self-understanding was essential to knowing how to live, and how to live well with oneself and with others. Self-determination depends on self-knowledge, on knowledge of others and of the world around you. Even forms of government are grounded in how we understand ourselves and human nature. So the question ‘Who am I?’ has far-reaching implications.

Many philosophers, at least in the West, have sought to identify the invariable or essential conditions of being a self. A widely taken approach is what’s known as a psychological continuity view of the self, where the self is a consciousness with self-awareness and personal memories. Sometimes these approaches frame the self as a combination of mind and body, as René Descartes did, or as primarily or solely consciousness. John Locke’s prince/pauper thought experiment, wherein a prince’s consciousness and all his memories are transferred into the body of a cobbler, is an illustration of the idea that personhood goes with consciousness. Philosophers have devised numerous subsequent thought experiments – involving personality transfers, split brains and teleporters – to explore the psychological approach. Contemporary philosophers in the ‘animalist’ camp are critical of the psychological approach, and argue that selves are essentially human biological organisms. ( Aristotle might also be closer to this approach than to the purely psychological.) Both psychological and animalist approaches are ‘container’ frameworks, positing the body as a container of psychological functions or the bounded location of bodily functions.

All these approaches reflect philosophers’ concern to focus on what the distinguishing or definitional characteristic of a self is, the thing that will pick out a self and nothing else, and that will identify selves as selves, regardless of their particular differences. On the psychological view, a self is a personal consciousness. On the animalist view, a self is a human organism or animal. This has tended to lead to a somewhat one-dimensional and simplified view of what a self is, leaving out social, cultural and interpersonal traits that are also distinctive of selves and are often what people would regard as central to their self-identity. Just as selves have different personal memories and self-awareness, they can have different social and interpersonal relations, cultural backgrounds and personalities. The latter are variable in their specificity, but are just as important to being a self as biology, memory and self-awareness.

Recognising the influence of these factors, some philosophers have pushed against such reductive approaches and argued for a framework that recognises the complexity and multidimensionality of persons. The network self view emerges from this trend. It began in the later 20th century and has continued in the 21st, when philosophers started to move toward a broader understanding of selves. Some philosophers propose narrative and anthropological views of selves. Communitarian and feminist philosophers argue for relational views that recognise the social embeddedness, relatedness and intersectionality of selves. According to relational views, social relations and identities are fundamental to understanding who persons are.

Social identities are traits of selves in virtue of membership in communities (local, professional, ethnic, religious, political), or in virtue of social categories (such as race, gender, class, political affiliation) or interpersonal relations (such as being a spouse, sibling, parent, friend, neighbour). These views imply that it’s not only embodiment and not only memory or consciousness of social relations but the relations themselves that also matter to who the self is. What philosophers call ‘4E views’ of cognition – for embodied, embedded, enactive and extended cognition – are also a move in the direction of a more relational, less ‘container’, view of the self. Relational views signal a paradigm shift from a reductive approach to one that seeks to recognise the complexity of the self. The network self view further develops this line of thought and says that the self is relational through and through, consisting not only of social but also physical, genetic, psychological, emotional and biological relations that together form a network self. The self also changes over time, acquiring and losing traits in virtue of new social locations and relations, even as it continues as that one self.

H ow do you self-identify? You probably have many aspects to yourself and would resist being reduced to or stereotyped as any one of them. But you might still identify yourself in terms of your heritage, ethnicity, race, religion: identities that are often prominent in identity politics. You might identify yourself in terms of other social and personal relationships and characteristics – ‘I’m Mary’s sister.’ ‘I’m a music-lover.’ ‘I’m Emily’s thesis advisor.’ ‘I’m a Chicagoan.’ Or you might identify personality characteristics: ‘I’m an extrovert’; or commitments: ‘I care about the environment.’ ‘I’m honest.’ You might identify yourself comparatively: ‘I’m the tallest person in my family’; or in terms of one’s political beliefs or affiliations: ‘I’m an independent’; or temporally: ‘I’m the person who lived down the hall from you in college,’ or ‘I’m getting married next year.’ Some of these are more important than others, some are fleeting. The point is that who you are is more complex than any one of your identities. Thinking of the self as a network is a way to conceptualise this complexity and fluidity.

Let’s take a concrete example. Consider Lindsey: she is spouse, mother, novelist, English speaker, Irish Catholic, feminist, professor of philosophy, automobile driver, psychobiological organism, introverted, fearful of heights, left-handed, carrier of Huntington’s disease (HD), resident of New York City. This is not an exhaustive set, just a selection of traits or identities. Traits are related to one another to form a network of traits. Lindsey is an inclusive network, a plurality of traits related to one another. The overall character – the integrity – of a self is constituted by the unique interrelatedness of its particular relational traits, psychobiological, social, political, cultural, linguistic and physical.

Figure 1 below is based on an approach to modelling ecological networks; the nodes represent traits, and the lines are relations between traits (without specifying the kind of relation).

We notice right away the complex interrelatedness among Lindsey’s traits. We can also see that some traits seem to be clustered, that is, related more to some traits than to others. Just as a body is a highly complex, organised network of organismic and molecular systems, the self is a highly organised network. Traits of the self can organise into clusters or hubs, such as a body cluster, a family cluster, a social cluster. There might be other clusters, but keeping it to a few is sufficient to illustrate the idea. A second approximation, Figure 2 below, captures the clustering idea.

Figures 1 and 2 (both from my book , The Network Self ) are simplifications of the bodily, personal and social relations that make up the self. Traits can be closely clustered, but they also cross over and intersect with traits in other hubs or clusters. For instance, a genetic trait – ‘Huntington’s disease carrier’ (HD in figures 1 and 2) – is related to biological, family and social traits. If the carrier status is known, there are also psychological and social relations to other carriers and to familial and medical communities. Clusters or sub-networks are not isolated, or self-enclosed hubs, and might regroup as the self develops.

Sometimes her experience might be fractured, as when others take one of her identities as defining all of her

Some traits might be more dominant than others. Being a spouse might be strongly relevant to who Lindsey is, whereas being an aunt weakly relevant. Some traits might be more salient in some contexts than others. In Lindsey’s neighbourhood, being a parent might be more salient than being a philosopher, whereas at the university being a philosopher is more prominent.

Lindsey can have a holistic experience of her multifaceted, interconnected network identity. Sometimes, though, her experience might be fractured, as when others take one of her identities as defining all of her. Suppose that, in an employment context, she isn’t promoted, earns a lower salary or isn’t considered for a job because of her gender. Discrimination is when an identity – race, gender, ethnicity – becomes the way in which someone is identified by others, and therefore might experience herself as reduced or objectified. It is the inappropriate, arbitrary or unfair salience of a trait in a context.

Lindsey might feel conflict or tension between her identities. She might not want to be reduced to or stereotyped by any one identity. She might feel the need to dissimulate, suppress or conceal some identity, as well as associated feelings and beliefs. She might feel that some of these are not essential to who she really is. But even if some are less important than others, and some are strongly relevant to who she is and identifies as, they’re all still interconnected ways in which Lindsey is.

F igures 1 and 2 above represent the network self, Lindsey, at a cross-section of time, say at early to mid-adulthood. What about the changeableness and fluidity of the self? What about other stages of Lindsey’s life? Lindsey-at-age-five is not a spouse or a mother, and future stages of Lindsey might include different traits and relations too: she might divorce or change careers or undergo a gender identity transformation. The network self is also a process .

It might seem strange at first to think of yourself as a process. You might think that processes are just a series of events, and your self feels more substantial than that. Maybe you think of yourself as an entity that’s distinct from relations, that change is something that happens to an unchangeable core that is you. You’d be in good company if you do. There’s a long history in philosophy going back to Aristotle arguing for a distinction between a substance and its properties, between substance and relations, and between entities and events.

However, the idea that the self is a network and a process is more plausible than you might think. Paradigmatic substances, such as the body, are systems of networks that are in constant process even when we don’t see that at a macro level: cells are replaced, hair and nails grow, food is digested, cellular and molecular processes are ongoing as long as the body is alive. Consciousness or the stream of awareness itself is in constant flux. Psychological dispositions or attitudes might be subject to variation in expression and occurrence. They’re not fixed and invariable, even when they’re somewhat settled aspects of a self. Social traits evolve. For example, Lindsey-as-daughter develops and changes. Lindsey-as-mother is not only related to her current traits, but also to her own past, in how she experienced being a daughter. Many past experiences and relations have shaped how she is now. New beliefs and attitudes might be acquired and old ones revised. There’s constancy, too, as traits don’t all change at the same pace and maybe some don’t change at all. But the temporal spread, so to speak, of the self means that how a self as a whole is at any time is a cumulative upshot of what it’s been and how it’s projecting itself forward.

Anchoring and transformation, sameness and change: the cumulative network is both-and , not either-or

Rather than an underlying, unchanging substance that acquires and loses properties, we’re making a paradigm shift to seeing the self as a process, as a cumulative network with a changeable integrity. A cumulative network has structure and organisation, as many natural processes do, whether we think of biological developments, physical processes or social processes. Think of this constancy and structure as stages of the self overlapping with, or mapping on to, one another. For Lindsey, being a sibling overlaps from Lindsey-at-six to the death of the sibling; being a spouse overlaps from Lindsey-at-30 to the end of the marriage. Moreover, even if her sibling dies, or her marriage crumbles, sibling and spouse would still be traits of Lindsey’s history – a history that belongs to her and shapes the structure of the cumulative network.

If the self is its history, does that mean it can’t really change much? What about someone who wants to be liberated from her past, or from her present circumstances? Someone who emigrates or flees family and friends to start a new life or undergoes a radical transformation doesn’t cease to have been who they were. Indeed, experiences of conversion or transformation are of that self, the one who is converting, transforming, emigrating. Similarly, imagine the experience of regret or renunciation. You did something that you now regret, that you would never do again, that you feel was an expression of yourself when you were very different from who you are now. Still, regret makes sense only if you’re the person who in the past acted in some way. When you regret, renounce and apologise, you acknowledge your changed self as continuous with and owning your own past as the author of the act. Anchoring and transformation, continuity and liberation, sameness and change: the cumulative network is both-and , not either-or .

Transformation can happen to a self or it can be chosen. It can be positive or negative. It can be liberating or diminishing. Take a chosen transformation. Lindsey undergoes a gender transformation, and becomes Paul. Paul doesn’t cease to have been Lindsey, the self who experienced a mismatch between assigned gender and his own sense of self-identification, even though Paul might prefer his history as Lindsey to be a nonpublic dimension of himself. The cumulative network now known as Paul still retains many traits – biological, genetic, familial, social, psychological – of its prior configuration as Lindsey, and is shaped by the history of having been Lindsey. Or consider the immigrant. She doesn’t cease to be the self whose history includes having been a resident and citizen of another country.

T he network self is changeable but continuous as it maps on to a new phase of the self. Some traits become relevant in new ways. Some might cease to be relevant in the present while remaining part of the self’s history. There’s no prescribed path for the self. The self is a cumulative network because its history persists, even if there are many aspects of its history that a self disavows going forward or even if the way in which its history is relevant changes. Recognising that the self is a cumulative network allows us to account for why radical transformation is of a self and not, literally, a different self.

Now imagine a transformation that’s not chosen but that happens to someone: for example, to a parent with Alzheimer’s disease. They are still parent, citizen, spouse, former professor. They are still their history; they are still that person undergoing debilitating change. The same is true of the person who experiences dramatic physical change, someone such as the actor Christopher Reeve who had quadriplegia after an accident, or the physicist Stephen Hawking whose capacities were severely compromised by ALS (motor neuron disease). Each was still parent, citizen, spouse, actor/scientist and former athlete. The parent with dementia experiences loss of memory, and of psychological and cognitive capacities, a diminishment in a subset of her network. The person with quadriplegia or ALS experiences loss of motor capacities, a bodily diminishment. Each undoubtedly leads to alteration in social traits and depends on extensive support from others to sustain themselves as selves.

Sometimes people say that the person with dementia who doesn’t know themselves or others anymore isn’t really the same person that they were, or maybe isn’t even a person at all. This reflects an appeal to the psychological view – that persons are essentially consciousness. But seeing the self as a network takes a different view. The integrity of the self is broader than personal memory and consciousness. A diminished self might still have many of its traits, however that self’s history might be constituted in particular.

Plato, long before Freud, recognised that self-knowledge is a hard-won and provisional achievement

The poignant account ‘Still Gloria’ (2017) by the Canadian bioethicist Françoise Baylis of her mother’s Alzheimer’s reflects this perspective. When visiting her mother, Baylis helps to sustain the integrity of Gloria’s self even when Gloria can no longer do that for herself. But she’s still herself. Does that mean that self-knowledge isn’t important? Of course not. Gloria’s diminished capacities are a contraction of her self, and might be a version of what happens in some degree for an ageing self who experiences a weakening of capacities. And there’s a lesson here for any self: none of us is completely transparent to ourselves. This isn’t a new idea; even Plato, long before Freud, recognised that there were unconscious desires, and that self-knowledge is a hard-won and provisional achievement. The process of self-questioning and self-discovery is ongoing through life because we don’t have fixed and immutable identities: our identity is multiple, complex and fluid.

This means that others don’t know us perfectly either. When people try to fix someone’s identity as one particular characteristic, it can lead to misunderstanding, stereotyping, discrimination. Our currently polarised rhetoric seems to do just that – to lock people into narrow categories: ‘white’, ‘Black’, ‘Christian’, ‘Muslim’, ‘conservative’, ‘progressive’. But selves are much more complex and rich. Seeing ourselves as a network is a fertile way to understand our complexity. Perhaps it could even help break the rigid and reductive stereotyping that dominates current cultural and political discourse, and cultivate more productive communication. We might not understand ourselves or others perfectly, but we often have overlapping identities and perspectives. Rather than seeing our multiple identities as separating us from one another, we should see them as bases for communication and understanding, even if partial. Lindsey is a white woman philosopher. Her identity as a philosopher is shared with other philosophers (men, women, white, not white). At the same time, she might share an identity as a woman philosopher with other women philosophers whose experiences as philosophers have been shaped by being women. Sometimes communication is more difficult than others, as when some identities are ideologically rejected, or seem so different that communication can’t get off the ground. But the multiple identities of the network self provide a basis for the possibility of common ground.

How else might the network self contribute to practical, living concerns? One of the most important contributors to our sense of wellbeing is the sense of being in control of our own lives, of being self-directing. You might worry that the multiplicity of the network self means that it’s determined by other factors and can’t be self -determining. The thought might be that freedom and self-determination start with a clean slate, with a self that has no characteristics, social relations, preferences or capabilities that would predetermine it. But such a self would lack resources for giving itself direction. Such a being would be buffeted by external forces rather than realising its own potentialities and making its own choices. That would be randomness, not self-determination. In contrast, rather than limiting the self, the network view sees the multiple identities as resources for a self that’s actively setting its own direction and making choices for itself. Lindsey might prioritise career over parenthood for a period of time, she might commit to finishing her novel, setting philosophical work aside. Nothing prevents a network self from freely choosing a direction or forging new ones. Self-determination expresses the self. It’s rooted in self-understanding.

The network self view envisions an enriched self and multiple possibilities for self-determination, rather than prescribing a particular way that selves ought to be. That doesn’t mean that a self doesn’t have responsibilities to and for others. Some responsibilities might be inherited, though many are chosen. That’s part of the fabric of living with others. Selves are not only ‘networked’, that is, in social networks, but are themselves networks. By embracing the complexity and fluidity of selves, we come to a better understanding of who we are and how to live well with ourselves and with one another.

To read more about the self, visit Psyche , a digital magazine from Aeon that illuminates the human condition through psychology, philosophical understanding and the arts.

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WHO AM I in the digital world

In the digital world, I consider myself whoever I want to be. If I want to be an author who writes about her travels and the people she has met along the way, then I could be an author. If I want to be an influencer who recommends what’s old and what’s new in the beauty line, I could be that too. 

If I want people to know me as an artist or even a foodie, that could be possible as well. All it takes is a little digital pixie dust on your social platform, and BOOM you’re an author, influencer, artist and food lover at one go!

Relatively, I found my freedom within a digital platform too. The arrival of Facebook which took over Friendster for the “top social media platform” position, had made the biggest impact on most Malaysian teenagers including myself approximately ten years back. While most of my peers got into the social bandwagon quite immediately, truth-to-be-told I was a little skeptical at first.

I used to be concerned about my safety online. I mean, we do hear stories of how information gets exploited and dangerous scenarios arise due to these platforms. Regardless, I got a new account a few months later to keep myself updated to my circle’s interactions online which were after schooling hours. Having set my profile with basic privacy settings, I finally made myself a safe little platform on cyberspace to view, post, comment and share content with my friends.

And over the years, I even took the time to expand my digital exposure by opening relatively new social accounts like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more. By signing up for new social platforms, I noticed how these platforms carried more latest updates on features and content which indirectly contributed to my digital skills and lifestyle as well.

Think about it…by having social media platforms, we are actually given the opportunity to watch hundreds of TV shows for free of cost. We come across advertisements which indirectly contributes to our industry’s economy. We are able to view creative content and ideas by following 50-100 influencers in social media itself. We are also given thousands of options when we shop online with endless amount of time! What more could we ask for..

So, if someone were to ask what is digital to me? I would say digital means a choice for change. It involves a massive self transformation, starting with your mindset and ending with your lifestyle patterns. Simply put, it is created to add value to our lives through technology. And by embracing it, we are given more opportunities to explore our skills within us and become a productive hybrid, to suit the future digital age.

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Sample Essays on “Who Am I?” How to guide, with Outlines

Published by gudwriter on November 23, 2017 November 23, 2017

How to Write an Essay About Yourself

Many students, from high school to college level, do not know how to describe themselves. They mix up ideas as they do not really know what they need to include in their writing. The main aim of a who am I essay is to make the reader understand who you are and what you believe in. Remember, the essay doesn’t have to be always about the positive side- you can include your weak points as well in a creative way. You can also write about what makes you unique (unique skills, character, etc). If you need help, college admission essay writing services is available to assist you.

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Striking the balance makes your essay realistic and convincing.

Character : What are your character traits? Which habits define you?

Values : What is your value system? Here, you need to include things that inspire you. It is here that you state your beliefs, motivations, principles, and inspirations. The reader expects you to have either staunch stands on certain things and this is the part where you make them know. Do not highlight radical points, though.

Skills : What aptitudes do you have? And, what is the level in each skill? This may include communication, computer, education, languages, leadership, or anything else you find worthy.

Achievements :

Life experiences that influenced your life

Perhaps you would like to read an essay sample on what makes you unique ?

Who Am I Essay Example 1 Outline

Below is a layout you should follow when writing a personal essay to impress your professor.

• Hook – The Question – who am I?
• Brief summary: Well, I know quite much about myself: I am a social, kind, respectful, and principled young man.
• Thesis : I am a kind, friendly, respectful, and principled young person.
• Point : Social
• Illustration : Meeting new friends
• Logic : Makes me dynamic
• Thesis relation: A cheerful, social and accommodative person is how many people know me.
• Point : Respectful and law abiding
• Illustration : Want to get along with everyone- both juniors and seniors. Car seats, polite character
• Explanation : I know the limits
• Thesis relation : Every day, I want to be known as a person who is respectful even to those who least deserve it.
• Point : Hobbies
• Illustrations : Sports, chess, music
• Explanation : Clear my mind, get healthier.
• Thesis relation : Sportsmanship has taught me to be fair other people, diligent and focused.
• Point : I am not perfect- when I don’t hit my targets, obvious opposition from people who don’t love progress. My love for novelty makes me uncomfortable with normal rules.
• Illustrations : My mum says I am selfish and that I always want everything to go my way. Yet, I’m still the person you will find in doing voluntary community work to help people.
• Explanation : I guess my self-esteem is too high for people to put down. This rubs feathers with people who stand my path to success.
• Thesis relation : I’d be a liar to say I am a genius, flawless or immortal- and that’s who I am.
• Restatement of thesis
• Summary of essay
• Signing out

Easily create engaging speeches that will express yourself confidently and fluently, all thanks to our innovative free speech writer generator .

Who Am I Essay Example 1

Who am I? Describing oneself is one of the most complicated tasks. In most cases, we always define ourselves using institutions, other people, or activities. Well, I know quite much about myself: I am a kind, friendly, respectful, and principled young person.

First, I am a sociable person. I love to meet people and make new friends. It’s not that I am an extrovert. However, I always work towards getting along with people. Of course, there are times I enjoy being alone for meditation . However, being around people makes me feel comfortable. I like to utilize every chance I get to make new friends. Interacting with people from different parts of the world makes me a diverse person. I am one of those people who believe that there is richness in human diversity. I am not quite selective of who I socialize with. A cheerful, cordial, and accommodative person is how many people know me.

Second, I am kind and respectful. Well, I appreciate that there is a thin line between being social and respectful. I want to treat everyone – junior or senior- with utmost reverence. In this regard, I am quite a listener. This didn’t start yesterday- I have always loved to give up my seats to elders in the train since I was young. Again, I am firm and at the same time polite. I love to make my points in a way that won’t hurt those around me. I always desire to be respectful even to those who least deserve it. Being respectful does not subtract anything from me after all.

Third, I have a great affection to team play. Well, I probably got this trait from my life as a sportsperson. I have been a school captain in Team Handball and Badminton. Today, I still participate in these games as a coach. I’m adherent to chess and I could become a grandmaster in the next few months. Sports and competitions have trained me to be fair, diligent, hardworking, and focused. As my hobby, chess clears my mind while athletics make me healthy. I’d definitely not tell who I am without mentioning sportsmanship. Actually, sports largely define me.

I am not perfect, though. I can be moody when I don’t hit my targets. My love for novelty makes me uncomfortable with normal rules. My mum says I am selfish and that I always want everything to go my way. Yet, I’m still the person you will find doing voluntary community work to help people. I guess my self-esteem is too high for people to put down. This rubs feathers with anyone who stands on the path to success. I’d be a liar if I said that I am a genius, flawless or immortal- and that’s who I am.

Anyway, it may be a little difficult to explain who I am. However, there are qualities that are an outright depiction of me. Respect, principles, sportsmanship, and leadership are some of them. As a quick learner, I love to change every behavior that doesn’t make me a better person. The desire to be good to everybody has made me who I am today and I intend to keep it that way.

Personal Essay Example 2 Outline

Introduction.

I give a description of myself in relation to my family background, personality, and how I view life.

Paragraph 1:

Family background

• Revolves around strong Christian faith since my parents are staunch Roman Catholic faithful
• I was born in Chicago, Illinois 21 years ago and I am the third born in a family of four children.
• I am a female of African American origin and I am very proud of my cultural background and family values

Paragraph 2:

My personality

• I am outspoken and like socializing and making new friends
• I value respect and believe it is two way
• I am hard working

Paragraph 3:

My view of life

• All humans are equal regardless of their cultural, racial and religious backgrounds as well as gender
• I am liberal in that I am open to learning new things such as new cultures, religions, and even languages
• Divergent views should be tolerated

I can summarize myself as someone who is respectful, accommodating, and open minded. I appreciate that as a human, I need others for my life to be complete. I believe my personality and world views are matching and thus I find life more sociable and interesting.

Personal Essay Example 2

My family background revolves around strong Christian faith since my parents are staunch Roman Catholic faithful. I was born in Chicago, Illinois 21 years ago and I am the third born in a family of four children. I am a female of African-American origin and I am very proud of my cultural background and family values. Like my parents, I have developed the habit and routine of going to church every Sunday in line with Christian doctrines. As a matter of fact, all the members of my family value attending Sunday masses wherever they may find themselves. I grew up in a working-parents family and I have grown to live in harmony with my siblings.

Regarding my personality, I am one person who is outspoken and likes socializing and making new friends. The number of friends I have in college is uncountable because I have no boundaries when it comes to building relationships. That notwithstanding, I value respect and believe it is two way. I expect that anybody I interact with should show me the same level of respect I show them irrespective of their background or status in the society. I am hard working because my parents taught me to loathe laziness since it is the beginning of poverty and miserable life. To me, respect and hard work go hand in hand. Working hard respectfully has opened many doors for me so far in my life.

My view of life is that all humans are equal regardless of their cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds as well as gender. This is why I have friends whose cultural and other backgrounds are diverse. I am also liberal in that I am open to learning new things such as new cultures, religions, and even languages. For instance, I can speak fluent French and Spanish yet I am American. I also believe that divergent views should be tolerated because this is part of enhancing human diversity. My parents had once tried to stop me from being too open minded but I persisted with it. Being open to new things, in my view, amounts to being accommodative to human diversity.

In conclusion, I can summarize myself as someone who is respectful, accommodative, and open minded. I appreciate that as a human, I need others for my life to be complete. When I show that I care for and accommodate different views, I find it easy working with others. I have thus managed to evade suffering any form of racial or cultural profiling because people find me easy to deal with. I believe my personality and world views are matching and thus I find life more sociable and interesting. It is my intention to continue leading this fulfilling life.

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Personal Essay Sample 3 Outline

I am a faithful Christian who is open-minded, friendly, and action-oriented.

Paragraph1:

In spite of being a staunch Christian, I am open to other people’s ways of worship and generally to other people’s way of life and opinions.

• I can listen to and understand what other people say and treat it as their opinion to which they are entitled whether or not I agree with it.
• I am able to live amongst people of various cultures.
• However, I do not let other people’s views or cultures affect my own.

I am a friendly person who highly values friendship.

• I have the habit of forming strong friendships both in our neighborhood and at school.
• I have quite a number of friends from various backgrounds because I do not choose friends based on their cultural backgrounds.
• I believe in genuine friendship and as soon as I detect that one is not a true friend, I drop them.

I follow my decisions and promises with actions as I believe that it is through actions that one can solve their problems and meet their life goals.

• I keep to my decisions once I make them.
• I have been able to accomplish many of my life’s endeavors especially in my academic life.
• I also know that keeping promises is one of the best ways of keeping relationships alive and healthy.
• I normally do all it takes to keep a promise irrespective of who I make it to.

I am an open-minded Christian who values relationships and I act on my decisions and promises. I am accommodative to diverse views and opinions even when they sharply contrast with mine. I pursue my life goals and keep relationships through action.

Personal Essay Sample 3

As a person, I feel growing over the years has significantly changed who I am. I have had to see and experience many things that I did not get to see in my childhood. I have also met many different people and visited many places. Some of the perspectives I held about people and certain things have certainly changed. In addition, I have undergone significant personal growth which has seen my personality transform as well. I have also become more decisive in my actions and in my relationships with others. I am a faithful Christian who is open-minded, friendly, and action-oriented.

In spite of being a staunch Christian, I am open to other people’s ways of worship and generally to other people’s way of life and opinions. I can listen to and understand what other people say and treat it as their opinion to which they are entitled whether or not I agree with it. This way, I have been able to learn a lot from others and widen my view of life and humanity. I am also able to live amongst people of various cultures. However, I do not let other people’s views or cultures affect my own as much as I may be accommodative to them. This is because I believe that the world has enough space for everyone to practice their own cultures and share their opinions without interfering with others.

I am also a friendly person who highly values friendship. From my childhood, I developed the habit of forming strong friendships both in our neighborhood and at school. I have carried this habit to my adulthood and I have quite a number of friends from various backgrounds because I do not choose friends based on their cultural backgrounds. However, I believe in genuine friendship and as soon as I detect that one is not a true friend, I drop them. To me, a friend should be like family that is always there for one in their better and tough days and moments. Out of this belief, I have helped a number of friends both in and out of school and shared with them some of my innermost secrets. I too have benefited from the loyalty of these friendships.

Further, I follow my decisions and promises with actions as I believe that it is through actions that one can solve their problems and meet their life goals. This virtue has helped me accomplish many of my life’s endeavors especially in my academic life. For example, since my middle school level, I decided that I would not consume television content during examination periods but maximally concentrate on the exams. I have kept to this decision and have thus posted good grades all through because I always have enough time to prepare for exams. I also know that keeping promises is one of the best ways of keeping relationships alive and healthy. I normally do all it takes to keep a promise irrespective of who I make it to. I do keep even as simple a promise as that of sharpening my younger sister’s drawing pencil every morning before she goes to school.

I am an open-minded Christian who values relationships and I act on my decisions and promises. I am accommodative to diverse views and opinions even when they sharply contrast with mine. I pursue my life goals and keep relationships through action. I also have many friends since I believe that genuine friendship is highly beneficial to humans. This personality and values enable me to live a fulfilling life as I am capable of accomplishing my goals and at the same time live harmoniously with others.

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Guest Essay

As Bird Flu Looms, the Lessons of Past Pandemics Take On New Urgency

By John M. Barry

Mr. Barry, a scholar at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, is the author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.”

In 1918, an influenza virus jumped from birds to humans and killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people in a world with less than a quarter of today’s population. Dozens of mammals also became infected.

Now we are seeing another onslaught of avian influenza. For years it has been devastating bird populations worldwide and more recently has begun infecting mammals , including cattle, a transmission never seen before. In another first, the virus almost certainly jumped recently from a cow to at least one human — fortunately, a mild case.

While much would still have to happen for this virus to ignite another human pandemic, these events provide another reason — as if one were needed — for governments and public health authorities to prepare for the next pandemic. As they do, they must be cautious about the lessons they might think Covid-19 left behind. We need to be prepared to fight the next war, not the last one.

Two assumptions based on our Covid experience would be especially dangerous and could cause tremendous damage, even if policymakers realized their mistake and adjusted quickly.

The first involves who is most likely to die from a pandemic virus. Covid primarily killed people 65 years and older , but Covid was an anomaly. The five previous pandemics we have reliable data about all killed much younger populations.

The 1889 pandemic most resembles Covid (and some scientists believe a coronavirus caused it). Young children escaped almost untouched and it killed mostly older people, but people ages 15 to 24 suffered the most excess mortality , or deaths above normal. Influenza caused the other pandemics, but unlike deaths from seasonal influenza, which usually kills older adults, in the 1957, 1968 and 2009 outbreaks, half or more deaths occurred in people younger than 65. The catastrophic 1918 pandemic was the complete reverse of Covid: Well over 90 percent of the excess mortality occurred in people younger than 65. Children under 10 were the most vulnerable, and those ages 25 to 29 followed.

Any presumption that older people would be the chief victims of the next pandemic — as they were in Covid — is wrong, and any policy so premised could leave healthy young adults and children exposed to a lethal virus.

The second dangerous assumption is that public health measures like school and business closings and masking had little impact. That is incorrect.

Australia, Germany and Switzerland are among the countries that demonstrated those interventions can succeed. Even the experience of the United States provides overwhelming, if indirect, evidence of the success of those public health measures.

The evidence comes from influenza, which transmits like Covid, with nearly one-third of cases transmitted by asymptomatic people. The winter before Covid, influenza killed an estimated 25,000 here ; in that first pandemic winter, influenza deaths were under 800. The public health steps taken to slow Covid contributed significantly to this decline, and those same measures no doubt affected Covid as well.

So the question isn’t whether those measures work. They do. It’s whether their benefits outweigh their social and economic costs. This will be a continuing calculation.

Such measures can moderate transmission, but they cannot be sustained indefinitely. And even the most extreme interventions cannot eliminate a pathogen that escapes initial containment if, like influenza or the virus that causes Covid-19, it is both airborne and transmitted by people showing no symptoms. Yet such interventions can achieve two important goals.

The first is preventing hospitals from being overrun. Achieving this outcome could require a cycle of imposing, lifting and reimposing public health measures to slow the spread of the virus. But the public should accept that because the goal is understandable, narrow and well defined.

The second objective is to slow transmission to buy time for identifying, manufacturing and distributing therapeutics and vaccines and for clinicians to learn how to manage care with the resources at hand. Artificial intelligence will perhaps be able to extrapolate from mountains of data which restrictions deliver the most benefits — whether, for example, just closing bars would be enough to significantly dampen spread — and which impose the greatest cost. A.I. should also speed drug development. And wastewater monitoring can track the pathogen’s movements and may make it possible to limit the locations where interventions are needed.

Still, what’s achievable will depend on the pathogen’s severity and transmissibility, and, as we sadly learned in the United States, how well — or poorly — leaders communicate the goals and the reasons behind them.

Specifically, officials will confront whether to impose the two most contentious interventions, school closings and mask mandates. What should they do?

Children are generally superspreaders of respiratory disease and can have disproportionate impact. Indeed, vaccinating children against pneumococcal pneumonia can cut the disease by 87 percent in people 50 and older. And schools were central to spreading the pandemics of 1957, 1968 and 2009. So there was good reason to think closing schools during Covid would save many lives.

In fact, closing schools did reduce Covid’s spread, yet the consensus view is that any gain was not worth the societal disruption and damage to children’s social and educational development. But that tells us nothing about the future. What if the next pandemic is deadlier than 1957’s but as in 1957, 48 percent of excess deaths are among those younger than 15 and schools are central to spread? Would it make sense to close schools then?

Masks present a much simpler question. They work. We’ve known they work since 1917, when they helped protect soldiers from a measles epidemic. A century later, all the data on Covid have actually demonstrated significant benefits from masks.

But whether to mandate masks is a difficult call. Too many people wear poorly fitted masks or wear them incorrectly. So even without adding in the complexities of politics, compliance is a problem. Whether government mask mandates will be worth the resistance they foment will depend on the severity of the virus.

That does not mean that institutions and businesses can’t or shouldn’t require masks. Nor does it mean we can’t increase the use of masks with better messaging. People accept smoking bans because they understand long-term exposure to secondhand smoke can cause cancer. A few minutes of exposure to Covid can kill. Messaging that combines self-protection with communitarian values could dent resistance significantly.

Individuals should want to protect themselves, given the long-term threat to their health. An estimated 7 percent of Americans have been affected by long Covid of varying severity, and a re-infection can still set it off in those who have so far avoided it. The 1918 pandemic also caused neurological and cardiovascular problems lasting decades, and children exposed in utero suffered worse health and higher mortality than their siblings. We can expect the same from the next pandemic.

What should we learn from the past? Every pandemic we have good information about was unique. That makes information itself the most valuable commodity. We must gather it, analyze it, act upon it and communicate it.

Epidemiological information can answer the biggest question: whether to deploy society-wide public health interventions at all. But the epidemiology of the virus is hardly the only information that matters. Before Covid vaccines were available, the single drug that saved the most lives was dexamethasone. Health officials in Britain discovered its effectiveness because the country has a shared data system that enabled them to analyze the efficacy of treatments being tried around the country. We have no comparable system in the United States. We need one.

Perhaps most important, government officials and health care experts must communicate to the public effectively. The United States failed dismally at this. There was no organized effort to counter social media disinformation, and experts damaged their own credibility by reversing their advice several times. They could have avoided these self-inflicted wounds by setting public expectations properly. The public should have been told that scientists had never seen this virus before, that they were giving their best advice based on their knowledge at the time and that their advice could — and probably would — change as more information came in. Had they done this, they probably would have retained more of the public’s confidence.

Trust matters. A pre-Covid analysis of the pandemic readiness of countries around the world rated the United States first because of its resources. Yet America had the second-worst rate of infections of any high-income country.

A pandemic analysis of 177 countries published in 2022 found that resources did not correlate with infections. Trust in government and fellow citizens did. That’s the lesson we really need to remember for the next time.

John M. Barry, a scholar at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, is the author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Self Reflection — Self-Reflection: Exploring Strengths and Weaknesses

Self-reflection: Exploring Strengths and Weaknesses

• Categories: Personal Strengths Self Awareness Self Reflection

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Words: 567 |

Published: Aug 24, 2023

Words: 567 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, identifying strengths, acknowledging weaknesses, utilizing strengths to address weaknesses.

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