ABSTRACT
In the pandemic, people's relationship with virtual identity was magnified by so many folks switching to primarily learning and working online. In meetings, online classrooms, and social interactions, they stare at screens which often include a view of themselves. This chapter explores how reimagining people's presentations of self can allow for new understandings of living online. Considering people's relationship to authenticity online is incredibly challenging as so many of their interactions are mediated by filters, edits, deletions, fakes, and misleading curations. Digital bodies are challenging to define. The complex understanding and ever-changing idea of who and how people are via technological meditations is incredibly difficult to pinpoint. The chapter explores three key areas of understanding regarding what a digital body might be: an avatar, the Internet of Bodies, and/or politicized (re)imaginings of self.
