Who are you? The Effects of Social Network Sites on the Construct of Personal Identity: The Meta-Patterns View

Abstract

I first orient the reader to social network sites’ (SNSs) role as a re-ontologizing technology. After an analysis of the various theories of personal identity, I conclude that the informational meta-patterns theory can best explain SNSs’ effects on our personal identities. From an understanding of this theory, I conclude that we, ourselves, are only patterns of information that we use to comprehend our worlds.