Who are you, anyway? Erik Erikson proposed that this is a central question all learners ask of themselves as they progress through various stages in their lives. Like Maslow, Erikson believed that most human behavior could be explained by examining common sets of related needs. He argued that these needs and the conflicts or crises associated with them were closely related. Inappropriate or incomplete resolutions at one stage could inhibit those at later stages.

Erikson titled his theory of personal development Psychosocial because of the role he perceived that social environments play in the conflicts and resolutions of each stage. Perhaps nowhere is this influence more evident than in the Identity stage of adolescence, where estimations of the self become increasingly complex. Factors that affect self-concept (definition of self) and self-esteem (valuing of self) are both internal and external at this stage (Woolfolk, 2001, p.99). Teachers, peer groups, and parents play significant roles in helping learners at this stage "find their identities."

Consider the potential that synchronous or asynchronous communications technologies have in shaping learner identities. The anonymity of Internet chat rooms and discussion forums allow users (of any age, really) to explore different identities, to role-play different perspectives, and to assert their opinions differently from face-to-face conversation. Above all else, they provide learners the opportunity to develop what Peter Elbow, noted Language Arts scholar, would call voice.

At the same time, online communications portals provide learners with unprecedented opportunities to connect with others who share similar viewpoints, as well as to expose themselves to perspectives that are different from their own. Research in computer-mediated-communications (CMC) has demonstrated repeatedly that in certain specific contexts (especially distance-learning), the inclusion of instructional experiences that leverage online environments can relate positively to student attitudes and performance.

But what about communications portals that are independent of instructional content? Sites that learners might visit recreationally? Consider, for example, the impact that porn, violence, hate-group, and cultism sites potentially have on the identity conflicts of adolescence. Note how in pre-Internet decades, exposure to these types of fringe communities was much more difficult; now it's available in one mouse-click.