If you use TikTok, you are probably familiar with Sabrina Bahsoon (a.k.a. Tube Girl), a young woman who has gone viral for filming herself with the back of her 0.5x iPhone camera, dancing to trending sounds in packed underground carriages.
Tube Girl gained thousands of followers overnight. She has become an ambassador for several brands and has collaborated with multiple music artists to promote their projects. Her clips have inspired many people on TikTok to hop on subways and trains and recreate them – but some public transport passengers are finding it a bit annoying and others, downright ridiculous. After all, who are they dancing for?
Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis of human social interaction introduced the idea that, just like a theatrical play, people ‘perform’ or ‘wear faces’ to manage other people’s perceptions of them. As Couldry and Hepp contend, in the Internet era, our social media profiles are a new stage: controlling how we are perceived online is easy since we decide the type of information and images of ourselves we share with the world.
This does not mean we are necessarily dishonest, but we are also not showing the whole picture; as Goffman argues, we are all inclined to show the ‘best’ version of ourselves. Nonetheless, a contemporary challenge is constantly performing in two separate stages (i.e., ‘online’ and ‘in real life’) but trying not to be seen as ‘fake’ by the shared audience (those who know us in real life and follow us online). For Tube Girl, a way of managing this was hiding her ‘online sensation’ status from her family – until they read about her virtual persona on the BBC.
Bahsoon has stated in several interviews that, when filming her TikToks, she feels like she is acting as her ‘true’, carefree self, unlike her usual shy demeanor. Does this mean her online self is more ‘genuine’ than her real-life self? According to Goffman, there is no true self because identity is ever-changing, never fixed. However, he believes consistency and coherence are necessary for performers to come across as authentic.
It is not surprising, then, that many people feel disturbed by those recreating the Tube Girl trend in public. After all, fellow commuters see these TikTokers hopping into train carriages, whipping out their phones, recording themselves enthusiastically dancing and lip-syncing to songs inaudible to the rest, then sitting down and pretending like nothing happened. They put on a show for an invisible, virtual audience while completely disregarding the physical one in front of them. Have we reached a stage where we care more about what Internet strangers have to say about us than the people we share spaces with? (Then again, those strangers on the train could also be our TikTok viewers.)
The Tube Girl trend is just a striking example of our constant need to perform for online audiences in today’s age. But at the end of the day, while some might find the Tube Girl trend odd, cringe, or dystopian, it is also just a fun little craze giving people like Sabrina a sense of confidence that might someday permeate from their online to their day-to-day personas.
I really love the example you have selected to explain the construction of identity topic.I was aware of her but was in darkness about how much fame she got due to her unique trend she started. I also want to appreciate the fact where you have mentioned about how people have reacted, it gives the whole picture to a reader and explains the concept very well.
I admire you managed to show how Goffman’s theory (which was formed before internet existed) is still relevant by applying this recent TikTok trend and linking with Goffman’s argument of what we show to others is simply a performance. You brought up a very intriguing point with your question whether “we care more about what internet strangers have to say about us than the people we share space with?”. I feel that society is heading towards that direction as of now. Especially since how the youth uses these social media like TikTok frequently on a day to day basis. There is this glorification of internet clout and it’s portrayed more significant than a person’s real life status. Adolescent people are typically naive (due to lack of knowledge + experience in real life) so they mostly won’t be able to tell what they’re seeing is a “performance” so they may be more willing to chase that internet clout rather than focusing on real life. So the adults should strongly raise awareness of what you see online isn’t always real and how certain actions presented online may seem fine is actually not socially acceptable in real life.