There is no doubt that our ability to continually change representations of ourselves has received an upgrade because of New Media. It has consumed our lifestyles to the point where we don’t even recognize the act of doing so or question how our world operates around us (Deuze 2011, pg 138). The Truman Show metaphor used by Deuze (2011, 40) couldn’t be more relevant in today’s society; we are constantly trying to deconstruct the various “truths” of our world around us. However, the main disagreement with this metaphor is that escape really is impossible in real life.
Digitalization has transformed society into a cut, copy and remix culture; where anything is ‘free game’. The concepts of security and protection of personal data is almost nonexistent online. Just because you think you deleted some information from Facebook, is it really?
“. . .[T]he boundaries between the physical and virtual world are blurring . . .” (Deuze 2011, pg 141)
Identity – People care about what they post online to their friends and colleagues. Much like the movie Inception (2010), citizens manipulate their characteristics online to appear more appealing. Branding has become more than advertising a product . . . it’s about showcasing one’s self through online means (Lee, 2010).
Disagree with these statements? Want more information? Then check out these other posts from my fellow bloggers:
We Are Living a Media Life (Rani, 2011) – Social networking has become a “normal, everyday ritual of life.”
Our Very Own Truman Show (George, 2011) – “We have more or less created a Big Brother situation for ourselves. Someone is always watching.”
References
Deuze, M. (2011). Media Life. In Media, Culture & Society, Volume 33, issue 1, pp. 137-148.
George, J. (2011) Our Very Own Truman Show | Not So New to New Media. Accessed April 5, 2011. http://notsonewtomedia.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/our-very-own-truman-show/
Lee, F. (2011). Branding Yourself << Faithchantal’s Blog. Accessed April 1, 2011. http://faithchantal.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/branding-yourself/.
Rani, V. (2011). We Are Living a Media Life<<vrani2104. Accessed April, 4, 2011. http://vrani2104.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/we-are-living-a-media-life/
Warner Bros. (2010) Inception. Accessed March 29, 2011. http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/.
