August 7, 2015
Information School’s Michelle Carter explores our ‘IT identities’
Oh no — you’ve lost your smartphone. Anxiety spikes as you check pockets and bags. But wait — there it is and your worries vanish. All is well, and you feel yourself again, whole again. What’s up with that?
Michelle Carter
Michelle Carter, an assistant professor in the University of Washington Information School, has studied and given a name to this feeling of reliance on — even seeming to become one with — the information technologies of our lives. She calls it our “IT identity,” though there can be more than one.
More specifically, she defines IT identity as “the extent to which an individual views use of an IT as integral to his or her sense of self.”
A theoretical essay of Carter’s based on an extensive review of literature on the topic has been accepted for publication in the journal MIS Quarterly. Its title is “Me, My Self and I(T): Conceptualizing Information Technology Identity and its Implications.” Her co-author is Varun Grover, a professor of information systems at Clemson University.
The essay is also based in part on a research study Carter conducted with Grover and fellow information systems professor Jason Thatcher, while a doctoral student at Clemson in 2010. There, students were asked to go without their cell phones for 24 hours and detail their reactions.
“We learned that many young adults do identify with their cell phones and that self-identification is reflected in feelings of relatedness, emotional energy and dependence on the device as a source of well-being,” Carter said.
She said they saw that self-identification develop over time as cell phones became part of the students’ daily lives. The study showed in particular, Carter said, that as people get used to cell phone use, they “incorporate capabilities afforded by the device — autonomy, empowerment, accessibility — into their self-concepts as personal capabilities.”
Carter said the essay extends “current understanding of IT as a medium, determinant, or consequent of identity” and shows IT identity’s “utility to a wide range of topics relating to how people express, maintain and expand their self-concepts. In doing do, it offers several directions and opportunities for researchers to incorporate IT identity into their research.”
When conducting the research, Carter said, it was surprising to find that people view the information technologies they use as part of their identities, “rather than simply being ‘addicted’ or ‘overly dependent’ on them.”
She added that the findings “are not at all surprising to younger people, which points to a substantial generational shift.”
Now, a final check just to be sure — got your phone or tablet? Feeling yourself again? Good.
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This was based in part on an article by Doug Parry of the Information School. For more information on IT identity, contact Carter at 404-428-6463 or mscarter@uw.edu.
