Activity Title: The "Me Inc." Audit: Deconstructing Your Marketized Self
1. The Digital Artifacts (Impression Management)

Select three "artifacts" (posts, photos, or bio descriptions) and identify the specific
"audience" you were imagining when you posted them.

Do these artifacts represent your "unfolding" personality, or are they carefully selected to
be "safe for work" and carry a promotional message?

How do these posts attempt to avoid context collapse—the risk that your boss, parents,
and friends might see the same de-contextualized information and discredit your
"brand"?
2. The "Me Inc." Business Plan (Marketization of Self)

List three personal hobbies or "authentic" traits you have shared publicly. Now, analyze
how these traits could be leveraged as social or cultural capital for a potential
employer.

When you share your "love of shoe shopping" or a specific lifestyle choice alongside
your professional qualifications, are you doing it for self-discovery, or to build a
marketable reputation?

Does viewing your personality as a "product" make you feel more in control of your
career, or does it feel like a disciplinary practice that forces you to be "always on"?
3. The Authenticity Paradox (Sincerity vs. Calculation)

Identify a time you shared something "vulnerable" or "authentic" online.

Was this an act of authenticity (existing wholly by the laws of your own being) or
sincerity (an other-directed act meant to avoid falsehood to an audience)?

If your "authentic" brand is designed to appeal to the "lowest common denominator"
to avoid offending anyone, can it ever truly be "authentic"?
4. Reflexivity and Agency (The "I" and the "Me")

Recall a moment where your "I" (your creative, impulsive response) resisted the
expectations of your "Me" (the structured, social brand others expect).

How can you use reflexivity to maintain a "core self" that is not for sale, even while
navigating a society that demands you be a brand?