Media Studies has introduced me to many technological fads and has forced me to think critically of the world around me. As I’ve interacted with these various forms of media, a nagging question has consistently come up.
Is new media facilitating cleverly disguised narcissism?
Let me explain. Beginning with MySpace, the internet generation has gravitated towards sites that allow them to speak their minds. This in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. In fact, there’s no doubt that the internet has improved many aspects of 21st century life, among which include increased communication, new ideas gained through collective intelligence and the ability to post journals, blogs, pictures etc. around the world in real time.
However, this freedom to do and say whatever one wants, whenever one wants has led to many people choosing to talk about themselves. On Facebook and Twitter, people update their statuses, sharing some of the most mundane parts of their lives with the world. Blogger and WordPress are filled with rambling blog posts about the writer’s feelings. YouTube is packed full of bad videos of people attempting to be the next viral video star.
It seems to me that the internet promotes communication between people just as much as it promotes self advertising. My generation goes to a music concert and tweets during the middle of it. Late at night, I go onto Facebook only to see twenty new status updates informing me of the latest thing to happen to a friend.
Through the internet, people are trying to share the experiences that happen in their lives on a daily basis. However, it seems like we may be neglecting real world interaction in favor of online self promotion. Instead of watching concerts, people Tweet during sets (a trend that I was upset to see while watching a band at Gillette Stadium). Instead of meeting with friends in person, people write on Facebook walls and go on AIM. We’re increasingly relying on technology to get our gossip (Facebook stalking, anyone?) and to share our own personal stories. But do people publish their opinions online for their own enjoyment or for the chance to share their feelings with an anonymous group?
It’s probably a mixture of both. However, I can’t help but feel like we’re heading down a narcissistic road, one where we are constantly updating our online statuses to inform everyone around us of our generally mundane activities.
So, what do you think? Is the internet really creating a generation of kids who are more obsessed with their online profiles rather than their real world work? Comment below…
Scott the question you raise on whether new media is facilitating cleverly disguised narcissism is very interesting. If you take a look through our class’s “Mad Tea Party” you will find a many blog posts that relate to your concern. For example, Tori Norris wrote a blog post this week on how we are “Driven to Distraction” and how she finds it increasingly difficult to focus, on say the news, without losing herself to websites such as Youtube. Janelle wrote another blogpost under the title of “The Texting Craze” in which she ponders upon the real consequences of texting and relates to Tori’s battling against distraction. In her last few sentences Janelle mentions an interesting point:
ReplyDelete“But honestly, if no one texted, we would never have the website: textsfromlast.com. And that is one website we could not afford to live without.”
I had never heard of the site, but after skimming through it found it very similar to renowned sites such “Fmylife.com”. Here are some of the texts shared on the site:
“(321): We succumbed to passion, and then he had to go meet his girlfriend. End of story.”
(901): Yea well when i pee it makes steam.
(612): Is it a bad sign when i blow my nose && can smell vodka?
(712): I drank like a thousand beers last night and my poo is solid, not gross like usual. I think this means I've grown up.
(613): His facebook profile says he's interested in men, but i'm choosing to ignore that
(306): Someone wrote that you're a whore in one of the bathroom stalls
(1-306): I didn't know I was popular enough to be hated. This is awesome
My question is, why would you want to live with or like this? The alleged texts from last night sound pretty concocted; I mean if you read through them it is amazing how many of these “texts” describe the same type of experiences. So I think this relates back to your question Scott, I think some of these new media fads are harmful in that they create “collective intelligence” that does more harm than good. Read out of context, these texts may sound funny to some, but if you stop and think about how real people are posting these texts the situation seems pretty sad. In my opinion, many of the new media fads are used to create virtual identities that to many people have become more important than real life socializing. And the communities that encourage this type of relationship with the media, are of course the definition of narcissism. After all, people post these posts with the expectation other people will benefit from reading them.