Reframing the ordinary: cyberspace and education

Abstract

In an era dominated by social media, reportedly more concerned with self-expression than self-reflection, the classical injunction to ‘Know Thyself’ has renewed purchase. Increased self-knowledge on the whole enables a student to become more self-determining by exercising a choice, a ‘freedom to be’ that is central to the human condition. Identity construction, development and formation are all considered important functions within education, and many teachers adopt a pedagogical approach that stimulates adolescents to connect what they are taught to who they are and want to be. However, much of this development of self-knowledge takes place in non-formal learning environments, be they co-curricular clubs or activities outside of school. It is my contention that social media offers as much in terms of exploring new identity positions as these more traditional locations for self-learning. Although many do not feel a need to articulate and share in order to believe they are present in the world there are an increasing number of those, who believe that to be is to be perceived through online expression. Rather than focusing upon the envy inducing ‘Perfect Me’ posts that are so often linked to the decline in adolescent mental health and wellbeing, this paper explores how mundane and banal posts on social media can be used to frame and reframe aspects of modern life which in turn promotes self-learning. By drawing attention to the average, everydayness of existence, the relationship between the seemingly ordinary and self-knowledge becomes more apparent. This paper considers the potential individuals have for coming to know themselves a little more deeply as they move through a process of self expression, to self curation, to self construal, to self construction. Rather than asking ‘What is it to be in the [online] world?’ it poses the slightly different question: ‘What is it to present being?’. It also considers the space between these two questions as offering potential for fostering the wider educational ideal, that of greater self-knowledge.