How does the media shape our identities?

It is commonly assumed that media has a significant impact on people's social identity formation, particularly among young people. It not only shapes each individual's identity in the community, but it also influences how we perceive and adjust our behavior. It's clear to understand how the power of the media influences identity based on how it's defined. The self-concept, or knowledge of who we are, interacts with self-awareness to create identity, a cognitive representation of the self. In other words, both internal and external circumstances influence who we are and how we become. Newspapers and magazines, both print and digital, television, radio, telephones, the Internet, fax machines, and billboards are all factors of media. All of these things have an effect on our personal identities. In addition to family and culture, the media has a significant impact on a social group's identity and changing behaviors. People who are exposed to the media on a regular basis will develop a multi-dimensional perspective on all elements of life as well as a broad range of important topics. As a result, we absorb the essence of knowledge and apply it to our lives. During a time when the COVID-19 disease is spreading, the media informs us about practical activities such as free meals and thousands of volunteer trips that contribute to the fight against the epidemic from both domestic and foreign organizations and individuals. This useful information will directly impact our identity, and we will realize that strong solidarity is shown through the most practical actions during the most difficult times for the country. Anyone who witnesses these things will learn useful lessons and our behavior will change from there as a result. More people will join in supporting and contributing to the country, as well as assisting Vietnamese-born compatriots in overcoming the pandemic. In essence, the media is imparting to us, whether young or elderly, what we can accomplish, how we may become, or how we should act, in order to be "happy. " Furthermore, while schooling children who are just beginning to form their own identity, positive things with good meanings in the media will create accurate thoughts and perceptions in them. Children, for example, tend to copy behaviors taught through a relevant learning program because this is part of the process of gradually creating a child's identity. In addition, children will learn the fundamentals of life, such as how to interact politely with others regardless of the situation, and how to have a meaningful life. They receive a wide range of messages. There is no such thing as a fixed identity; it is malleable and continually changing to keep up with the changing structure of society, as identity is constructed in connection to others. The media provides us with tools that enable us to grow into the people we want to be and blend in with our surroundings. Social media has given people a platform to express themselves and flaunt their personalities to the rest of the world. It also allows people to build and create their own identities according to their preferences. It means that a child who aspires to be a personality must interact with adults and the media in order to acquire social historical knowledge and experience, and to be equipped for life and work in the culture of the moment. Another way the media has an impact on an individual's identity is through its influence on daily consumption and lifestyle. Person's predisposition to copy the behavior of others around them, particularly people who have influence over them, has affected their identity. When buying, for example, individuals frequently rely on what other people have created to evaluate and, based on that, to select the most suited goods. Because they are aware of these judgments and regard them as a societal standard for selecting things when shopping. Another example of media influence on lifestyle is our acceptance of diverse cultures. We switch from chopsticks to forks when eating steak, a Western cuisine, instead of using chopsticks as in Vietnamese daily meals. We have assimilated the cultural essence in order to develop while maintaining traditional cultural values. Instead of civilizations that have harmful consequences on our behavior, we should only absorb cultures that make sense. Advertising, TV shows, movies, games, and music send us messages that either confirm or contradict our assumptions about life and whether or not we can do it. However, besides the positive effects, in general, the media also creates negative impacts on the formation and development of identity. A harmful effect of the media on the development of an individual's identity is excessive trend-following. One of the outstanding shots discovered in magazines is of skinny and exquisite models, many girls will scroll via those snapshots as a supply of ideas to understand what their bodies seem like and would consider them insufficient if they did not appear to be better models. Body satisfaction decreased and the comparative measure of body attractiveness and increased beliefs about the importance of attractiveness. We should be happy with who we are or we can strive to be better. However, some people will develop an attitude of trying to reduce weight based on standard models, and they will occasionally use very negative and unscientific ways, causing harm to their health because they believe they are not attractive enough. People gain a sense of self-identity through the current media. There's no denying that we are taught how to create our "self identity" through the media. We have the ability to modify, develop, re-invent, and mass produce identity thanks to the mass media. The media helps us to change the way we think of ourselves and, as a result, to become and be viewed in the manner we want to be. However, we should be cautious in our media consumption since we should be proud of our own identity rather than conforming to a stereotypical identity.