I read this editorial in the Daily Universe ( BYU's campus newspaper) a couple of weeks ago and thought it was very interesting. This cyber world we live in.....
By Samantha Strong 13 Jan 2009
To the many followers of her YouTube video blog, Lonelygirl115 was a 16-year-old young woman named "Bree." Her saga involved her oppressively religious parents, their cult ties and her personal struggle for freedom and expression in the face of a sheltered existence. The intriguing nature of her situation and her heart-wrenching self-exposure drew in quite an audience. On YouTube, Lonelygirl115 represented a cry for help that echoed across cyberspace and resonated with the isolated and the friendless everywhere. In reality, however, the "lonely girl" was in good company. In reality, she was actress Jessica Rose, and was working under the advisement of two filmmakers and the Creative Artists Agency, the most influential theatrical agency in the world. She was, in short, not at all who she portrayed herself to be. When mainstream media revealed her true identity, her followers felt betrayed. They, like everyone who got wind of the story, began to wonder where fact ends and fiction begins online.
As the information age forges on and technology becomes an increasingly dominant part of our lives, blogs, videologs and social networking sites are increasingly the modes through which we define ourselves. As more people become a part of phenomena like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Blogspot, private thoughts become performed monologues and interpersonal communications become a public show. More and more, people are determining their self-worth by how successfully they package their image, and not by what the substance behind their image actually is.
Of course, Lonelygirl115 represents the extreme. Fabricating a character and a story out of thin air and then publicizing it under false pretenses is undoubtedly an exception to the norm. But regardless, this example indicates a growing social undercurrent, one that moves us to package ourselves-to emphasize what we like and omit what we don't until we result in a product we feel comfortable publicizing. Creating false identities is too blatantly unethical for the mainstream, but subtle tweaks here and there allow many to present the world with an image of themselves that is a little closer to what they'd like to be. Even if they have to sacrifice a little of what they actually are in the process, "packaging" keeps guilt at bay.
So what do you want to be? Intelligent? Successful? Cultured? What about alternative or artsy? Fun-loving? Athletic? Popular? Deep? We would all like to be a little or a lot more of something. So few of us are wholly comfortable in our own skin. In moderation, it's healthy. Feelings of unsettlement and dissatisfaction, so long as we keep them in the proper perspective, are what motivate us to grow and develop as individuals. But in this, as in everything, technology has offered us a short cut. Thanks to new modes of communication, we now have the ability to skip personal growth and just portray ourselves as "grown."
What do I mean? Well, how often do you omit a favorite movie from your Facebook profile, because it makes you seem less substantive than you want to, or add a book you've merely heard of or read only in part, because it makes you seem more spiritual or alternative or cultured or whatever it is you want to be? How many pictures on your account show you doing something you've done once, but have captions that give the impression it's something you do all the time? How many photos of yourself have you de-tagged, because another person in the photo or some element of its content detracts from the image you seek to portray?
There are many whose basic desires haven't matured or materialized into concrete images like "alternative" or "cultured." Sometimes, people don't know what they want to be. There are many who are not yet at the stage where they are capable of making that decision. They simply want attention and acceptance. They too can use self-packaging to obtain it. Many use blogs as a means of gaining sympathy for their over-dramatized troubles, their tortured thoughts. For some, blogging can be a legitimate and important means of self-expression. Their postings are genuine and grounded in real pain or heartache or whatever the case may be. But for many, their online self-packages are exaggerated. Again, Lonelygirl115 exemplifies the extreme-melodrama and downright lies-and again, most of those who subscribe to this trend do so in smaller, less obtrusive ways. They complain. They whine. They make public experiences that would be more sacred and meaningful if kept private. They inflate and intensify when they should really just let things be.
Acceptance, and even attention, are very human, very understandable desires to have. Things that, on some level, all of us seek. But there are better ways. Self-packaging cheapens us. It pulls us away from what is real. It stunts our growth by allowing us to pretend we have already achieved it.
Part of the problem is the added pressure the Internet puts on us. Through it, more people have access to information about us. But the fact that the stakes are higher isn't reason enough to deflect the blame. We live in a culture of perfection; flaws must be obliterated (or more often, hidden) at any cost. We also live in a culture of narcissism; we assume that everyone is watching us closely and cares deeply. The facts are these: We are flawed and largely normal, and few are watching closely enough or caring deeply enough about who we purport to be to make it worth it to be anything but what we really are.
Samantha Strong is an Issues and Ideas Editor at The Daily Universe.
I realize I'm posting this on a blog. But I just have to ask:
Why do you blog? Is it like an online journal for you? We all know that the best posts to read are juicy ones....not ones that contain a play-by-play of our average lives .
So how do you decide what to share with the world (via facebook,blog, online profile, etc.) and what to keep to yourself? Do you ever "package" yourself in a way that might be a little decieving?
Any Comments? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this issue...
By Samantha Strong 13 Jan 2009
To the many followers of her YouTube video blog, Lonelygirl115 was a 16-year-old young woman named "Bree." Her saga involved her oppressively religious parents, their cult ties and her personal struggle for freedom and expression in the face of a sheltered existence. The intriguing nature of her situation and her heart-wrenching self-exposure drew in quite an audience. On YouTube, Lonelygirl115 represented a cry for help that echoed across cyberspace and resonated with the isolated and the friendless everywhere. In reality, however, the "lonely girl" was in good company. In reality, she was actress Jessica Rose, and was working under the advisement of two filmmakers and the Creative Artists Agency, the most influential theatrical agency in the world. She was, in short, not at all who she portrayed herself to be. When mainstream media revealed her true identity, her followers felt betrayed. They, like everyone who got wind of the story, began to wonder where fact ends and fiction begins online.
As the information age forges on and technology becomes an increasingly dominant part of our lives, blogs, videologs and social networking sites are increasingly the modes through which we define ourselves. As more people become a part of phenomena like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Blogspot, private thoughts become performed monologues and interpersonal communications become a public show. More and more, people are determining their self-worth by how successfully they package their image, and not by what the substance behind their image actually is.
Of course, Lonelygirl115 represents the extreme. Fabricating a character and a story out of thin air and then publicizing it under false pretenses is undoubtedly an exception to the norm. But regardless, this example indicates a growing social undercurrent, one that moves us to package ourselves-to emphasize what we like and omit what we don't until we result in a product we feel comfortable publicizing. Creating false identities is too blatantly unethical for the mainstream, but subtle tweaks here and there allow many to present the world with an image of themselves that is a little closer to what they'd like to be. Even if they have to sacrifice a little of what they actually are in the process, "packaging" keeps guilt at bay.
So what do you want to be? Intelligent? Successful? Cultured? What about alternative or artsy? Fun-loving? Athletic? Popular? Deep? We would all like to be a little or a lot more of something. So few of us are wholly comfortable in our own skin. In moderation, it's healthy. Feelings of unsettlement and dissatisfaction, so long as we keep them in the proper perspective, are what motivate us to grow and develop as individuals. But in this, as in everything, technology has offered us a short cut. Thanks to new modes of communication, we now have the ability to skip personal growth and just portray ourselves as "grown."
What do I mean? Well, how often do you omit a favorite movie from your Facebook profile, because it makes you seem less substantive than you want to, or add a book you've merely heard of or read only in part, because it makes you seem more spiritual or alternative or cultured or whatever it is you want to be? How many pictures on your account show you doing something you've done once, but have captions that give the impression it's something you do all the time? How many photos of yourself have you de-tagged, because another person in the photo or some element of its content detracts from the image you seek to portray?
There are many whose basic desires haven't matured or materialized into concrete images like "alternative" or "cultured." Sometimes, people don't know what they want to be. There are many who are not yet at the stage where they are capable of making that decision. They simply want attention and acceptance. They too can use self-packaging to obtain it. Many use blogs as a means of gaining sympathy for their over-dramatized troubles, their tortured thoughts. For some, blogging can be a legitimate and important means of self-expression. Their postings are genuine and grounded in real pain or heartache or whatever the case may be. But for many, their online self-packages are exaggerated. Again, Lonelygirl115 exemplifies the extreme-melodrama and downright lies-and again, most of those who subscribe to this trend do so in smaller, less obtrusive ways. They complain. They whine. They make public experiences that would be more sacred and meaningful if kept private. They inflate and intensify when they should really just let things be.
Acceptance, and even attention, are very human, very understandable desires to have. Things that, on some level, all of us seek. But there are better ways. Self-packaging cheapens us. It pulls us away from what is real. It stunts our growth by allowing us to pretend we have already achieved it.
Part of the problem is the added pressure the Internet puts on us. Through it, more people have access to information about us. But the fact that the stakes are higher isn't reason enough to deflect the blame. We live in a culture of perfection; flaws must be obliterated (or more often, hidden) at any cost. We also live in a culture of narcissism; we assume that everyone is watching us closely and cares deeply. The facts are these: We are flawed and largely normal, and few are watching closely enough or caring deeply enough about who we purport to be to make it worth it to be anything but what we really are.
Samantha Strong is an Issues and Ideas Editor at The Daily Universe.
I realize I'm posting this on a blog. But I just have to ask:
Why do you blog? Is it like an online journal for you? We all know that the best posts to read are juicy ones....not ones that contain a play-by-play of our average lives .
So how do you decide what to share with the world (via facebook,blog, online profile, etc.) and what to keep to yourself? Do you ever "package" yourself in a way that might be a little decieving?
Any Comments? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this issue...
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