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Theresa Sauterr What's On Your Mind

Decent Essays

THE CRITIQUE ESSAY
Theresa Sauter in her article “What’s on your mind? Writing on Facebook as a tool for self-formation” explores various instances on how updating profiles and statuses on Facebook can reveal self-formation with attachment to historical roots. The article explores past examples of self-writing and puts considerations on discontinuities and continuities between the modern and old practices. She reports that the discontinuities presents non-technologically and historically way of thinking about new media technologies use in the modern societies that fully understands the users more than any form of communication. Sauter argues that with inception of technological tools, social networking sites have provided the platform for self-writing …show more content…

The posting of statuses in Facebook is not just for communication but rather to shape understanding for self and to create normative ways of transgressing or sometimes acting. Sauter also argues that writing is a way through which people can shape their lives realities and relations often in an unconscious way. Facebook is a modern communication platform that people use to shape their ethics, values understandings and beliefs. The use of technological tools is becoming more and more involved in people daily lives and conduct. The techno- social hybridity plays a major role in the modern societies by shaping self-formation and practices of people. Self-writing has become one of the major activity in human technologies, networks and other entities. Self-writing provides the practice that governs human conduct and re-shapes human behavior in the modern psychological …show more content…

In her analysis, she presents how history has influenced the modern self-writing, and how the transfer of the writing process has been intertwined with the modern technology systems. She presents scenarios that make us believe that writing is not only an art of communication but a system used to reveal oneself and understand self. The practice is as old as time and it is part of the human nature. She has supported most of her arguments creatively, by using both the modern and old sources to present a clear transition and connection that is encompassed in the art of writing for self-formation. For one to understand the present systems, it is important to dig deep into history (Fischhoff, 2013). Sauter has creatively presented historical context of self-writing in the past by exploring the ancient Greek askesis. In her narration she has depended greatly on Foucault works to present the philosophical aspect in the art of writing. Her chronological presentations provide a vivid understanding on writing transition and its effect to the modern systems. She has also used Christian confessional, romantic autobiography, liberation and transgression and Writing in psychology to present a clear insight on writing and its effect on self-formation (Sauter, 2014). Her discussions and presentations are well structured to accommodate conflicting

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