We usually believe that our identity is shaped by our personal experiences, interests, and choices. However, in the age of the internet, this idea seems less simple. When we open TikTok, Instagram, or other social media platforms, they often recommend content that matches our interests. Sometimes, algorithms even seem to know our preferences better than we do. This makes me wonder: is the internet simply discovering who we are, or is it helping to create who we become?
I believe that our identity on the internet is not shaped by only one side. Instead, it is a two-way relationship. We give the internet information about our preferences, and the internet uses this information to define us. Every like, search, comment, and even the time we spend watching a video becomes useful data for digital platforms. Algorithms use this data to create user profiles and place us into different categories, such as gamers, fitness lovers, or certain types of consumers.
However, these labels do not always represent who we really are. For example, someone might accidentally watch a fitness video. The algorithm may then assume that this person is interested in fitness and start recommending similar content. After watching more of these videos, the person might develop a real interest in fitness, buy fitness products, and eventually make fitness part of their lifestyle. In this situation, the algorithm originally made a prediction based on a small action, but this prediction may eventually influence the person’s behaviour and identity.
This idea connects to Stuart Hall’s theory of cultural identity. Hall (1990) argues that identity is not something fixed, but something that is continuously formed through culture and social experiences. When we apply this idea to the internet, algorithms can be understood as another force that influences identity formation. We no longer understand ourselves only through family, friends, and society. Our understanding of ourselves may also be influenced by the digital environment created by online platforms.
This relationship also reminds me of Ian Hacking’s concept of the Looping Effect. Hacking explains that classifying people can sometimes change how those people behave and understand themselves. On the internet, when algorithms place users into different categories, these labels may do more than describe existing interests. They may also influence future choices through personalised recommendations. Users react to these recommendations, and their new behaviour provides more data that supports the algorithm’s original prediction. As a result, a continuous cycle develops between users and algorithms.
This cycle may also create another problem: the Filter Bubble. Eli Pariser (2011) suggests that personalised algorithms can limit the range of information people encounter by showing them content that matches their existing preferences. For example, someone who regularly watches videos supporting a particular political opinion may continue receiving similar recommendations. Over time, this person might begin to believe that most people share the same opinion, simply because the internet keeps showing them a world that looks similar to their own.
Of course, this does not mean that algorithms completely control our thoughts. People can still actively search for different information, question recommendations, and change their interests through real-life experiences. The influence of algorithms is not absolute, and filter bubbles do not necessarily affect everyone in the same way. However, it is still important to consider how repeated exposure to certain types of content might gradually influence the way we understand the world and ourselves.
Therefore, I believe that digital identity is more like an ongoing negotiation. Through our online behaviour, we tell the internet who we are. In return, the internet suggests who we might become through the content it chooses to show us. Both sides continue to influence each other, making online identity something that is always changing.
Perhaps the most important question is not how well the algorithm knows us. Instead, it is whether we can still recognise which interests truly come from ourselves and which have gradually developed through the content recommended to us.
The internet may not directly decide who we are, but it is becoming part of the process that shapes who we become.
References
Hall, S. (1990) ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’, in Rutherford, J. (ed.) Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 222–237.
Hacking, I. (1995) ‘The Looping Effects of Human Kinds’, in Sperber, D., Premack, D. and Premack, A.J. (eds.) Causal Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Debate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 351–383.
Pariser, E. (2011) The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. New York: Penguin Press.
