Unit 1: Social Networks (1ère Générale)

 My Online Self

The document under study is an extract of an article published in The Atlantic in 2014. It is about modern self-portraits. In this article, the author is comparing and contrasting painted and digital portraits: both of them are made to describe, depict and represent someone. However, back then, painted portraits were used to make people look powerful, to display their wealth and to leave a proof of their existence. On another hand, digital portraits nowadays are for everybody. Digital portraits are made out of pixels. Furthermore, their goals are to find friends, find a job and stay connected to the world. They have had a big impact on our daily lives as everyone has an account on a social networking site: students, parents, politicians. Besides, there has also been an impact on our vocabulary some nouns became verbs: “to friend”. On top of that, not having an account on a social media platform can be a social barrier.