Upon examining Facebook as a corporate auto/biography in class today, I couldn’t help but continue to ask myself questions around Facebook’s role in shaping our lives, and in turn, our life narratives. What does it mean to be a Facebooked person; a Facebooked nation; a Facebooked world? Who does Facebook encourage us to be?
Facebook is a much larger entity than most people consider. While we are reminded on a daily basis that Facebook is a tool to be used as a mode for sharing and making “the world more open and connected,” (see Facebook’s mission statement), we often forget (or perhaps take for granted) that Facebook is simply a collection of profiles. These profiles are compiled of the personal information which we are prompted to add, and therefore are ultimately a digital version of our life stories on a daily level. As Zuckerberg said, the Timeline is your life.
But is it really? Consider both of the following links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpQxM5OFE60
http://www.gapyear.com/news/230749/dutch-girl-fakes-a-trip-to-se-asia
The first is a short, humourous Youtube video that draws attention to the way many of us use Facebook. We exaggerate or alter details to not only fit the profile genre, but to make ourselves (our lives) more appealing, exciting, happy, outrageous, successful- you name it. While the video is perhaps an exaggeration in itself (although in some cases it may not be), it does show how the lives we put forth on Facebook and other Social Networking Sites (SNS) are constantly being distorted.
The second link will take you to an article about a Dutch girl, Zilla van den Born, who took the ideas stated above and created an experiment to prove just how distorted reality can become through Facebook and SNS. Zilla took a forty-two day “vacation” to South East Asia. Or at least that’s what she made everyone (including her parents) believe. Through pictures and carefully executed Skype sessions, Zilla convincingly made it appear as though she were tasting new and exotic Asian cuisines, staying in Oriental hotels, and snorkeling with tropical fish. In reality however, Zilla never left her hometown.
It seems as though we- I use a collective “we” here that can be a synonym for the general, privileged, North American society, although millions of people around the world may be included in this “we”- are so dependent on our Facebooked lives that we believe what we see at face value. Until recently, I never would have questioned that was actually taking place in the photographed journeys of my “friends.” Obviously so-and-so is having a great time on this camping trip because they are laughing, making silly faces, and doing creek-side yoga. But was that really the case?
Facebook has become such a regular, habitual, and even essential part of our daily lives that people forget the power it holds. Can a virtual world ever accurately represent true life-narratives? So long as we are constantly self-surveilling our online, digital actions and failing to apply a critical lens to our Newsfeeds, the answer is No.
Hello Brooklyn!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts through this post! I really enjoyed the relevant links you connected, particularly Zilla’s fake trip to South East Asia. When I first read that article I was rather taken aback, with my initial thought centering around how manipulative Zilla was. However, my second thought that arose was how brilliant she was because, in reality, don’t we all manipulate our digital selves to some degree? Don’t we all strive to create a carefully crafted online presence? Although Zilla crafted her profile specifically for a school project, she artfully and effectively displayed to us (the viewers/readers and fellow Facebookers) how an individual’s online presence may be twisted for personal satisfaction… even though we may look at others’ profiles with disdain or jealousy… creekside yoga? Damn.
In an attempt to answer your question, I do not believe that a virtual world will ever accurately represent our true life-narratives. I think our digital-selves will always be somewhat fabricated, exaggerated, amplified… But in all actuality, isn’t it in human nature to concoct a specified self-image; whether this is how we choose to appear on Facebook, or how we dress in our day-to-day lives? Where is the line drawn between “truth” and fabrication? Is appearance alone ever wholly honest?
Facebook encourages us to be exaggerated version of ourselves, but I don’t believe that this is necessarily a negative concept. Perhaps this gives individuals the drive to experience more in life and to capture inspiration from others? But I must admit that I don’t even use Facebook anymore so maybe my optimism is a result of my lack of social media presence, which completely discounts my argument…
UGH….I wrote a really awesome response (it was, I promise) and accidentally clicked on something which led to the response vanishing into cyber-space.
Alas, I apologize. I am going to have to attempt to reconstruct the reply in a slightly less-lengthy manner now however…
First of all, Hi! And thank you for taking the time to read my post and give such great feedback! You’re completely right. Or rather, I completely agree with your comments, especially in regard to your question, “Where is the line drawn between “truth” and fabrication?” I do feel however, that the concept of altering and manipulating our selves on the digital level brings things up a notch in comparison to the way we alter ourselves here in the “real” world (i.e. choosing the way we dress).
I have mixed feelings at the moment in response to the thought that being exaggerated versions of ourselves may not necessarily be a negative concept. I definitely think that there are pros and cons, but my gut is pulling me more towards the “con” side. This is something that I think is worth more exploration and consideration!
Hey Brooklyn,
I want to acknowledge that your two links inspired me to write my class blog in the way it did, though I did not quote you directly!
I also want to say that I have many thoughts on the first video, including the fairly obvious fact that the person featured is a straight white male. Another is the tropes that the video uses in order to get its point across, including when a street sex worker approaches the protagonist’s car where he continues to get wasted, alone (as far as I know street sex workers usually wait for drivers to come up to them, though?) – an event that spurs him to say he’s in an ‘open relationship.’ The absurdly offensive idea underscored here seems to me to mock more the mentality of this subject than Facebook as a platform, though the idea that Facebook enables someone so tasteless is certainly a fair point that deserves examination.
Similarly, I think it’s fascinating how Zilla played up the ignorance of her audience about South East Asia. Would South East Asian immigrants really be fooled by this?
– Jane Shi
I think the girl who faked the trip to South East Asia is a great example of the ways someone can distort or project a false impression of the themselves through Facebook. As a regular Facebook user, one of the things I noticed is how Facebook allows you the opportunity to project your ideal self and in that way taps into our most vain motives. By publishing favourable material of yourself in order to portray yourself in a positive light, you create a false and misleading impression as someone who appears to always be going on interesting adventures and having a great, successful time in life. When people like or comment on your photos, it can have a rewarding effect. I also do not think the virtual world can accurately depict a life narrative, but as we become more attached and dependant upon Facebook as a source of reward and reinforcement for our ideal selves, it is important to consider its psychological effects. Studies have shown that Facebook use increases depression through evoking feelings of envy through social comparison, a study described in the article “How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy” by Maria Konnikova of the New York times: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-facebook-makes-us-unhappy. So while the identity you create on Facebook may not be entirely accurate, the more we identify with it and rely on it as a source of validation, the more real it becomes.
-Aaron Fox