Looking over the evolution of the internet, it is apparent that the amount of information that resides within its electronic confines has increased exponentially since its establishment. This information doesn’t just pertain to new stories, scientific development, social view, or other general knowledge information. It also encompasses the rise of the personal, private material that now resides within this global network. Pictures of friends and recent adventures now reside in a virtual album on Facebook for the world to see rather than a physical one tucked away discreetly on a shelf. Personal views about issues aren’t just shared between friends anymore, but rather with the masses due to the availability of free personal blogs. Even embarrassing moments one would think to keep secret forever are anonymously, but openly shared on sites such as fmylife.com.
This idea that our private life should be shared openly and freely with others on the internet, a view that is becoming increasingly more popular with the boom of sites like Facebook and Twitter among the up and coming generations, is one that author Sven Birkets openly deplores. This “Waning of the Private Self” (Into the Electronic Millennium) is the belief that we as a people “have been edging away from the opaqueness of private life and towards the transparence of a life lived within a set of [electronic] systems…The figure-ground model, which figures a solitary self before a background that is the society of other selves, is romantic in the extreme” (Into the Electron Millennium). His belief that private notion should be kept…well…private would be only accentuated by looking at Facebook’s current user base.
This image of the private self isn’t just about sharing yourself, it’s about yourself being influenced by the communication media that impels our thoughts, actions, and perceptions of the world around us. How we view the occurring events that we cannot witness firsthand is directly influenced by the spin that the reporting agency puts on it. Our views are directly influenced by the popular views that society and the media portray. This is only amplified by the fact that the media is inescapable. We are surrounded by the our communication infrastructure, whether it be TV, the internet, or radio. Birkets says that because of this, “we are much more interested in becoming collectively linked selves than privately suffering selves” (Is Cyberspace Destroying Society). In a way, I feel he’s right to an extent. While people putting themselves out there on the internet is their own choice, the ideas deemed important by the media are indeed thrust upon us involuntarily. For how can we truly come up with a unique opinion when we are constantly bombarded and shaped by those around us, and better yet, how can an opinion that differs from the societal norm survive under such pressure to conform?
I agree that the openness of the internet permits the dilution of our individuality. The fact that we can share our thoughts, personal lives, and history with someone across the world, whom we may not even know, is both mind boggling and frightening. I know you said that the waning of the self was Birkert's most critical, but what do you think his second most critical was? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree that the media has an incredible amount of influence in our lives, too much so in my opinion. I honestly become disgusted when I watch the news because of the outright bias that is shown there. As far as unique ideas surviving it is hard for me to say. It seems like unique ideas are rare and the closest that we usually come to a unique idea are a compilation or conglomeration of other ideas.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me most is less the sharing of some private beliefs and events and more the peer pressure to live in the hive. I hear this in some of the class blogs, where on campus it's considered odd to spend too much time alone or to hesitate in replying to a text message. Heaven forbid, it's worse to turn off the phone!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, remember the line from Forster's story: "Beware of first-hand ideas!"