"the media has replaced family and society as the main source of collective identity" - discuss

Q: "The media has replaced family and society as the main source of collective identity" - discuss

A:   David Buckingham once stated that "a focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and social groups."
This meaning in a nutshell that in order to understand today’s collective identity the media and technology has to be suited in order to see the change within collective identities.
In relation to the questions it can be seen that today’s youth identity stems from online media such as Facebook and twitter and with the power of web 2.0 (user centred sharing) it has become increasingly harder to regulate the information that this generation is receiving.
In relation to the opinion within the question that the media has replaced family as the source of collective identity you can look at the social networking site of Facebook and how easy it has now become to change and shape your personality/identity. an example of this being how it is even gives its users the option to choose their own family members, this can be seen as the new way of affecting collective identity due to the theory in accordance of mallows hierarchy of needs and how by shaping and creating our ideal "would be" family through online media then you as an individual are fulfilling your self-esteem and in doing so altering your other friends around you making it more appealing for them to do the same., this making the social networking sites the main source of collective identity in relation to your own family.

In relation to the question and how it states that society is being replaced as the course of collective identity you could look to the theory of post modernism and how it creates our reality (and thus our society) through the media, and also relating this to the hypodermic needle and how we as a society are constantly being injected by the drug that is the media. And so through this it can be seen that the media is inescapable and is constantly shaping the reality around us.
Another way that our online community is replacing society is through the now common belief that it is more sociable to go online and talk to many friends than it is to meet up with only a few. This can be seen within the daily mail on 25th August 2011, when asked for their opinion on Facebook and online commenting the majority stated that "it's better for me and my friends if we're online to talk to each other whenever we need to rather than wasting time getting ready to go out and meet up. This way I can talk to them in my pyjamas!" this proving that online community’s and web2.0 is taking over society’s role in being a source of collective identity.

In conclusion it can be seen that through the use of media, including newspapers, the internet and web 2.0 that family and society are now being replaced as the source of which collective identity is made.