Are we defined by media?

I’ve joined a few online dating sites recently and have noticed that while many people only give a few sentences in their self-summary, their listing of what movies and music they like goes on forever. Is that a critical detail in terms of relationship compatibility? Do such lists given genuine insight into the person’s nature or character? Given the current media saturation of the world, have we pretty much become what we watch and listen to?

There is research showing that while people from individualistic or Western cultures tend to answer the question “Who are you?” with statements such as “I am a student” or “I am friendly”, people from collectivistic or Eastern cultures tend to answer with relational statements such as “I am X’s sister” or “I am a member of Y” (google culture and self-contstrual). I’m trying to figure out where in that dichotomy to place self-descriptions that consist of “I listen to...” or “I watch...” statements.

This article talks about how the imagery available in various media is used by young people to construct their sense of identity and to model their lives after. But that is slightly different from what I’m suggesting. I’m sure ‘Saved by the Bell’ and ‘Full House’ (I’m aging myself here) somewhat informed my ideas about what it meant to be a teenager and even a family member. But what I’m referring to is the sense I get that simply saying someone listens to Bands X, Y, and Z is presumed sufficient information from which to derive a full and accurate portrayal of who he or she is.

Or is it that we no longer have a life outside of the media we entertain ourselves with? We work, sleep, eat...and watch TV or listen to our iPods. Maybe we just don’t have anything else to talk about when trying to describe ourselves. There are all sorts of philosophical tangents I could go on here – are we living vicariously through the characters on our screens? if I say we need to get a life, what does having a life mean? But really, the bottom line of this article is simply this: If you are writing an online profile, write a longer self-summary. Please and thank-you.