The effect of surveillance society on digital identity construction in social media

Every development in communication tools in the past has led to some changes in the social structure and these changes have been discussed by thinkers in different periods. The invention and dissemination of traditional mass media have been evaluated in terms of their effects on the transformation into an information society and the contribution of these tools to surveillance activities has been examined. In a very short time between the invention of the internet and social media networks and their penetration into all areas of daily life, the effects of the mentioned networks on various areas from communication to the structure of society have been discussed and examined from different perspectives. Today, with 4.6 billion users, social media networks, which have spread to 59.5% of the world's population, have become platforms where individuals spend an average of 2.5 hours a day. The most important factor in the rapid spread of social media networks is seen as the possibility of interactivity and two-way communication. There are also opinions that this feature of social networks has many negative consequences besides its positive benefits, and that a system that is far from being equal and fair has been created on issues such as visibility and the distribution of economic gains provided by social networks. In addition to all these, it is claimed that the user data in social media networks are monitored by the owners of commercial and political power and some gains are obtained from these data. The concept of identity began to be discussed individually, with the effect of modernism, and the emergence of the individual and the issues specific to the individual at that time led to the discussion of the concepts of public space and private space. Afterwards, postmodernism and consumer culture showed their effects on the concept of identity, and thus identity became fluid as constantly consumed images. As a result of internet technology and its social effects, it was stated that a period called digimodernism started to be experienced and digital identities that can be built instantaneously in this period have their own language and symbols (Kirby, 2009). All these social transformations are criticized in terms of allowing some surveillance activities in various ways. It is emphasized that each period allows surveillance within the framework of its own technological developments and during these periods, surveillance activities have changed and transformed as well as the structure of society. The diversity and scope of surveillance technologies transform the society in which they live into a surveillance society day by day, and while individuals participate in social media networks, which are the most common means of surveillance, they shape their digital identities under the influence of the surveillance society. It is thought that users, who are divided into two groups as digital natives and digital immigrants, according to the period they met with internet technology and digitalization, have different approaches to privacy and surveillance while constructing their digital identities in social media networks. This study includes a comparative evaluation of 522 digital native and digital immigrant active social media users in terms of privacy concerns, privacy control, privacy disclosure, surveillance awareness and privacy violation awareness in the process of digital identity construction. The result of the research is that in the process of digital identity construction in social media networks, digital natives disclose less privacy, digital immigrants are more aware of surveillance, and they do not differ in the two groups concerned about their privacy, the thought of having control over their privacy, and awareness of privacy violations showed. Keywords: Social media networks, surveillance society, self, identity, digital identity construction, panopticon, synopticon, superpanopticon, omnipotent, digital native, digital immigrant.