How Social Media Has Taught Us to Perform Identity, Rather Than Live It

Talks on Tuesdays: Real lectures in your favourite venues. 45-mins + Q&A with Alexis Zahner Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together - at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner. This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about. Event Schedule: 6.30pm Arrival & Doors Open 7pm Lecuture Starts 7.45pm Q&A 8pm Talk Concludes 8.30pm Event Closes. *Please arrive close to 6.30pm A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night - pay as you go. Your Topic: How Social Media Has Taught Us to Perform Identity, Rather Than Live It Who are you when nobody is watching? In an age where likes, followers, and algorithms reward performance over presence, social media has quietly reshaped not only how we communicate, but how we construct our identities. From carefully curated profiles to the pressure of being constantly visible, many of us have learned to perform ourselves rather than simply be ourselves. Drawing on fifteen years working in marketing, business psychology, and media, alongside the research behind her upcoming book Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies, Alexis Zahner explores how digital platforms influence our attention, relationships, and sense of self. Together, we’ll unpack concepts such as the performance self, social comparison, dark design patterns, and why authenticity has become increasingly difficult in an algorithm-driven world. Rather than asking us to abandon technology, this talk offers a thoughtful framework for understanding our relationship with it, and asks a timely question: when our identity becomes content, what does it mean to be real? Your Speaker: Alexis Zahner Alexis Zahner is an author, business psychology professional, and marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in marketing, media, and human behaviour. Through her writing, speaking, and consulting, she explores how social media shapes identity, attention, and wellbeing. Alexis is the author of Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies, host of the Live+Work More Human podcast, and Marketing Manager at the Byron Writers Festival.