Identity

I need some help here - what else to include?

I was thinking that I could possibly include identity in the initial ‘case study’ description. The questions didn’t lend themselves to anything startling, except perhaps Chris, Tim, and Tom’s thoughts about being called a ‘geek’.

Anne’s description of herself centred on ‘fun’, being sporty, and being friendly.
Charli’s description of herself centred on being unsure of who and what she was, trying to cope with humour, moroseness and further conflicting emotions. Others viewed her interactions with her ‘overseas friends’ as negative, but for her, the online interactions were a positive and important outlet.
Chris’ description of himself included how his constructed identity of being a computer expert was being misconstrued by his peers as negative, and that he had no voice about the space in which to operate in as a computer expert at school.
Jake’s identity was tied up in his technical ability and success, which gave him positive reinforcement in his friendships and various relationships.
Joe’s identity descriptions centred on his academic focus, and positive outlook on life. Demonstrates agency?
Lisa’s description of herself centred on being funny and friendly, though she did not want to be understood as boring or plain.
Tim’s identity description was debatable as he replied, “I dunno” to many of the questions. He used various adjectives including trustworthy, friendly, kind, reliable, and average.
Tom’s description of himself was also debatable as he did not know what experiences to draw on and included the adjectives cheeky, shy, mental, fair, forgiving, and normal.

Charli, Jake, and Chris emphasized the importance of their expertise in the construction of their identity and meaningfulness (personal value).

Chris, Tim, and Tom referred to being called a ‘geek’. Tom had only been called a geek from friends who “don’t play on computer” [sic]. Tim had jokingly been called a geek, and stated that it was neither positive or negative, especially as “everyone’s geeks and like all my friends [smiles]. So calling them a geek it’s not like, it’s not really, not offensive or anything, cause I’m a geek as well, so I’m saying it to them” [sic]. This points to a premise that the notion of being good on computers could be considered as a normal or standard occurrence, and that people are not surprised when youths display skill, evidenced in the following quote from Charli (regarding how her friends viewed her computer use): “Some of them just think I'm just normal cause like this generation is getting up with the computer technology, like with MSN and big things like that. But then others think that I'm kind of a computer whiz, if you like, and stuff.”

Chris had been subject to bullying at his school and the word ‘geek’ had been used in some of these instances. When I asked him if he considered ‘computer geek’ to be a positive or negative thing, Chris replied, “It gets on my nerves that people can describe me as a computer geek, but if I'm in the right mood I think of it as one of those good things that just show me, that almost stand me out as one of those people who can work with computers, and can do a wide range of things with them. And yet sometimes, it's - when I'm walking about - it's not that good because you get picked on, being able to do all those things. I normally ignore it though.”