ABSTRACT

In this chapter I argue that the time teens spend taking and posting pictures to social media is valuable. The power of using this public space to curate “the self into being” (Sunden 2003: 3) cannot be minimized. Because of cultural shifts, teens have migrated to the digital space to socialize and figure out who they are within the contexts of their peer groups. Doing this online means these experiences are visual. Incorporating Cooley’s (1964) looking-glass self, they use peer social media feedback to evaluate the self. However, when curating their images they also engage in an inner dialogue and evaluation of the self as they assess the images and think about whether they match (or not) with the story of the self they hold in their minds. This is critical work for adolescent self-development, and while we may wish they did not do this in such a public and visual way, it’s their reality. When the image matches the story in their heads, it confirms the self. When the match is not easy to reconcile, it can derail the sense of self. The ways these teens harness social media technology to do this work has implications for their pathways to development. The chapter ends with a discussion of study limitations and ideas for future research.