Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Digital Exhibitionism: The Age of Exposure
In Munar's essay the point that stuck out the most to me was the duality of reality that exists in the social media community. The main disparity, being between the fabricated life online and the one lived in reality, gives way to a number of other differences between the real and the perceived which are then fostered by the nature of social media sites. As discussed in the essay, its no secret that social media users curate a version of themselves to put forth online. These users are given the illusion that they have control over how they are perceived, by sharing their personal information they exhibit their private lives and broadcast to all who are watching, reading, or listening but other forces are also at work. Other users and the social media sites themselves have a hand in producing online identities. Other users are able to post content on and about their peers thus contributing to an individuals virtual personality. Commands generated by social media sites also prompt users to share certain information and effect how people conduct themselves online. As Munar cites in her essay, sites such as Facebook and Twitter will ask questions such as "Whats happening?" or "Whats on your mind?"thus priming people to share and potentially overshare that information. Through the use of informal language users in a sense interact with the website in a way they would with their peers, the sites are asking simple questions formatted the way one would talk to a friend. The lack of control could be damaging to users mainly because they are under the assumption that they are the ones solely curating their online identity, giving them a false sense of security in their ability to put forth their desired self.
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Paige-- I think the idea of "oversharing" is really an important one in today's social world. But what is considered "oversharing" is evolving quickly and exponentially. For example, there is a big debate on Instagram whether or not women should be allowed to show their nipples. Lena Dunham and Chelsea Handler are battling Instagram, who always remove their posted pictures featuring nipples. #FreeTheNipple exists. But if you think about it, the idea of even showing a breast or a bare leg in the entertainment world never even used to be allowed! What is considered "oversharing" and "appropriate" is snowballing so fast that now we're fighting about #FreeTheNipple?! I understand it's a matter of freedom of speech and accepting women's bodies, but like... who NEEDS to see their friends' nipples on Facebook or Instagram?! People are literally fighting for the right to overshare. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's definitely an issue that was so far out of sight for our grandparents, parents, and even our generation as children.
I think it is interesting to look at the idea of creating a social media presence as a curatorial process. In many ways it is about the conscious choice of what to include, what not to include, how much of it, how often, etc.
Social networks like Facebook are even beginning to cater towards this curatorial mindset, asking their users what they would like to appear on their page before it is posted. Additionally, users are also able to curate the content they see from others with Facebook recently instituting features which allow users to hide certain types of content and emphasize others.
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