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In today’s society
you’d be considered crazy if you didn’t have a mobile phone. It is estimated
that in 2015 there are over 4.88 billion people who own a mobile phone
(Statistica, 2015b); and that an estimated 1.96 billion are an active user of a
social media site (Statistica, 2015a). For many of these people their phone
is always on them, whether in a pocket or a bag, or glued to their
hand. Making them a cyborg in the eyes of Laurie McNeil (2012) thesis 'There is no 'I' in Network'. McNeil (2012) mentioned that you are either a human, post-human, or a cyborg.
Many
Instagram users can be considered as post-humans, as we’ve become familiar with
the app and are active users. There are other users who could be considered
complete droids to the app, posting every few hours. These are mostly your
celebrities, where dedicated fans want to watch every moment of their narrative
unfold. Celebrities have a higher following rate but that’s because we want to
live a life like there’s, always perfect in pictures, rich, and beautiful,
but they are a cyborg to the site. Posting controlled photos to emphasis their favoured qualities, publicity, and their power over followers. With this power it leaves little room for
diversity, we only see the wealthy celebrities, not the people who are in
different countries trying to make differences.
I’m controlled in what I
display as I only want it to be the interesting things, that isn’t too personal,
and a vague story of who I am. My personal narrative with only tiny insights.
As mentioned in this week’s lecture by Ariella Van Luyn (2015), we all have a
personal narrative that we can choose to share to the world or keep it to
ourselves. A narrative isn’t just something you read in a dusty old book, it
can be experienced through all five senses and revelled in. A narrative can be a
person’s most powerful weapon.
References:
McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking
sites and Post-human auto-biography. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/
Statistica (2015a).
Number of worldwide social network users. Retrieved from: http://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
Statistica
(2015b). Number of mobile phone users worldwide from 2012 to 2018. Retrieved
from: http://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide/
Van Luyn, A.
(2015). BA1002: Our Space Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Networked Narrative: Intertextuality,
week 6 [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/
Image reference:
Even with the scale of people who own mobile phones at large, it is not surprising to learn that there are also millions of active social network users. Rather, since the debut of social networking sites, I think it more surprising for people to learn that an individual does not have a Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr (or so on) account. Like you mentioned in your blog, such technology has heavily impacted our lives; we now refer to our smartphones for the latest news updates or celebrity gossip. These kinds of details are what shape our virtual narrative. Particularly celebrities, or rather tastemakers, possess the power and fans to influence and alter the focus of Instagram, and thus impact what other Instagram followers post or publicise, and in turn present their online identity. However, this does not necessarily apply to all users. As McNeill (2012, p. 68) states, "[social networks share] a connection with autobiography; a program of self-improvement through narrative, and invest in the power of life stories to create change". While aspects of the virtual world may be misleading, and on occasions, manipulative, the digital space offers a different medium for us to interact and publish who we would like to be perceived as.
ReplyDeleteReferences
McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. Biography, 35 (1). pp. 65-82.