Digital Inequality, Age, Social Class

&
The Spatial Self

By: Markesha Gibbons

 KEY OBJECTIVES
● Demonstrate the many ways that social media
use can vary not only individually but also
according to differences in cultural capital,
literacy and age.
● Know the difference in sub cultural capital as
well as life stages.
*meaning people social media practices will
change throughout their lifetime
 DISCUSSION
Imagine that you need to find out whether your headaches are
apart of a chrome condition or something more minor. How
would you go about figuring this out. What kind of literacies
would be required.

Literacy And Capital
Literacy is not only the ability to read
and write but also one’s ability to to
effectively use information and tools
for access to information. (Gee, 1996)
● Alphanumeric literacy
● Computer literacy
● Cmc literacy
● Multimedia literacy
● Information literacy
Digital Literacy is the ability to use the
literacies to understand digitally-
provided information
QUESTION:
Can lack in economic, cultural, and social
capital cause a digital divide in social class?
Or, is everyone equal?
Digital Inequality
The difference in access to economic, cultural, and social
capital resources necessary to access, use, and interpret
digital information and technologies
● Economic capital is needed to first acquire
technology- hardware, software, and access.
● Cultural Capital is knowledge in how to use the
technology
● Social Capital is connections with people that serve
as a resource. *i.e if you needed help with a
computer app.
“Those with low cultural capital
have a taste for necessity and thus
view social media activity
instrumentally-as a tool to find a
job or look for information, whereas
those with higher cultural capital
see it as a space for creative
expression and self-building”
(Robinson, 2009)
The Impacts of Social Class
 AGE
Age Cohort: Describes a group of people who
are about the same age
Ex. Baby Boom, Millennials

Early Childhood: 59% of 7-9 y/o have their

own device which opens up the doors for
social media use. Middle Childhood Preteens
Adulthood And Teens
Teenagers: Engage largely in self directed
learning. May switch platforms that have
affordances for self expression and social
connections.
Middle Age Adults: Use social media for
social support through life transitions.
Seniors: Are a complete digital divide
of their own. More senior men use social
media vs. women
Seniors (LOL)
 LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER :)

Make a map or a timeline of the human life cycle. What particular

tensions(mental or emotional strains) occur at each stage? List
these above the timeline. Then, Below the timeline, list the
technologies, practices, and platforms people may use to address
them
What is the spatial self?
What is the spatial
self? ● According to Swartz & Halegoua
(2014), the Spatial self refers to
instances (both online & offline)
where individuals document,
archive and display their
experience and/or mobility within
space and place in order to
represent or perform aspects of
their identity to others.
The Spatial Self
● Pre-digital examples of the
spatial self include:

○ Diaries of urban flaneurs ● Archived an individual’s

from back in the Victorian movement through urban
Era. environments.
○ Photo albums, home videos ● Documented personal
and slideshows moments, vacations, etc.
○ Postcards ● Have photographs of distant
locales or familiar places.
QUESTION: What are your thoughts on location
data and have you had any experiences with
location dependent apps?

http://newsandexperts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/l
ocation-services-on-mobile.jpg
Location-based
apps
● Location based apps collect or record our
location by using real-time geo-data from
our smartphones. They use this
information to transmit where we are,
what we are doing and even who we are
with/near.

https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/2010/03/11/5/19
2/1922507/3d54c3075b83716c_location-based.jpg
Location-based social media and the self

According to Humphreys (2012), practices of cataloging and archiving personal

mobility and presence within place:
- Encourages intimate bonding with friends
- Are used in the service of bragging or “showing off”
- Self-promotion
- Making inside jokes
- Recording places as a memory aid
- Receiving points or rewards for particular habits or actions.
An individual gains access to a variety of multimedia tools that enable the possibility
for more controlled and more imaginative performances of identity online
(Papacharissi, 2011)
Identity, place and social media.

According to Goffman (1969), identity is the outcome of ‘performances, in which

the actors provide an impression of the self’

“When an individual plays a part he implicitly requests his observers to take

seriously the impression that is fostered before them. They are asked to
believe that the character they see actually possesses the attributes he
appears to possess, that the tasks that he performs will have the
consequences that are implicitly claimed for it, and that, in general, matters
are what they appear to be.” (Goffman, 1969)
➢ The spatial self is based on a highly curated depiction of the individual

○ Not all offline actions are broadcasted on their social media

○ Users carefully choose the time and place when they share their
posts.
○ Only share a small part of their life
■ Locations which shape other’s perceptions of who they are
and where they go.
■ Places or events they choose to archive
➢ Spatial self representations can
be contradictory.

➢ Users create distinct depictions

of their physical activity in their
different social media outlets.

http://www.shafiqsiddiqui.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/socia
l-media-conduct.png
 Photographic Social Networks

➢ A Social Media Platform that is

centered around creation and sharing
of photographic images.

➢ These types of networks are based on

it’s main use involves a camera.

➢ The case study covers the

Photographic Geocoded images that
we share on instagram.
Photo Map
Instagram’s Photo Map
➢ A current trend when it comes to things like photos in
social media is tagging your location. For a while
Instagram had a photo map which kept track on
those locations, exact longitude and latitude.

➢ As the photo map was being used more and more

the map began to grow and you could see other
people’s photo locations around the world.

➢ However, researchers are trying to make sense of

why. What is our motivation for tagging our locations,
whether it be our own, a business, or even a venue?

https://www.sociobits.org/2015/10/how-to-navig
ate-instagram-photo-map-update/3294
Mixed Use Social Networks
➢ These platforms don’t rely on location and photography
only. It has various intentions of use, from “checking in” to
a location to sharing links, videos, and graphics.

➢ The “Check In” Action

○ The check in feature is a commonly used feature
that users use to display the location that they are
currently at.
○ According to Moore’s research on Facebook check
ins, you can determine which regions are politically
affiliated with which party to even where the top two
locations for vacation that users vacation at.
(Moore, 2012)
○ Question: Can hashtags like #Miami or
#JonesWedding2016 count as a form of “checking
in” on social media?
Location Based Social Networks

➢ Media platforms based on using

your location to function.

➢ Platforms like foursquare are

encouraged to be used for local
surroundings and
recommendations for venues and
more.

➢ It also can be convenient when

traveling.
Question: Do you think that the line between these
3 types of studies are blurring the more advanced
we get with our Media platforms?
Geo Tagging
“Geotagging is the process of adding
geographical identification metadata to
various media.” - (Hunter,2015)

➢ Geo Tagging could be

dangerous considering
almost anyone can simply
track your location.

➢ However it can be beneficial

for events like meetups or
disaster relief.
Question: What do you think are
the different reasons that people
feel the need to disclose their
location when sharing photos or
just using apps?
References

Frith J (2012) Constructing location, one check-in at a time: examining the practices of Foursquare users. Doctoral Dissertation, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
Gee, J.P (1996). On mobots and classrooms: The converging languages of the new capitalism and schooling
Hay, M. (2011, March 7). Pros and Cons of Geotagging. Retrieved from
https://www.teamlewis.com/us/insights/articles/pros-and-cons-of-geotagging
Hunter, D. S. (2012). EBook Geotagging: Linking Literature and Location. Retrieved June 17, 2018, from
http://www.gis.smumn.edu/GradProjects/HunterD.pdf
Milne E (2010) Letters, Postcards, Email: Technologies of Presence. New York: Routledge.
Moore, J. (2012). Visualizing Activity on Facebook. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from Visualizing Activity on Facebook
Saker, M. (2016). Foursquare and identity: Checking-in and presenting the self through location. New Media & Society,19(6), 934-949.
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