The Key to Immortality: The Internet and a Funny Cat?
Throughout the semester we have identified many ways in which people document their lives online. Whether it is through blogging, tweeting, or creating an album on Facebook—in today’s increasingly digitized world more and more people are publishing personal content for the masses. Many of the scholarly articles that we have worked with in our class’ focus on life narrative explore the motivations behind these practices. Miller and Shepard in their analysis of the weblog, for instance, point to peoples’ increasingly voyeuristic inclinations—suggesting that people produce and consume personal content as a means of vicariously indulging in a fantastical reality. However, could the increasing obsession with constantly recording one’s life have a more gravely underlying cause?
In his Ted Talk “The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death,” philosopher Stephen Cave identifies common ways how people cope with the certainty of dying. While he identifies how people often turn to spirituality and science as ways of both understanding and attempting to defy this inevitable unknown, he also discusses how forging legacy helps alleviate the fear surrounding it.
While in the past someone might have had to accomplish something extraordinary in order to achieve post-mortem recognition, the speed and interconnectivity between people and information to make it a lot easier for people to feel as if they have made a significant mark on the world.
Cave points out that while Achilles might have had to sacrifice his life at the battle of Troy in order to attain “immortal fame,” today, anyone with an “internet connection and a funny cat” is able to do the same (though I’m sure Grumpy Cat herself will be remembered more than her owners!). Through this comical juxtaposition, Cave illustrates how almost anything people upload has the potential to attain widespread recognition, which provides motivation for people to keep sharing.
Although it may be a bit of a stretch to suggest that people only contribute content online as a means of rejecting their inevitable demise, it provides yet another interesting perspective to the conversation about why people have become so enthralled with sharing their lives online.
However, it is important to question whether, in our feverish attempts to record and digitize our thoughts and experiences, do we sacrifice fully enjoying our lives in the present?
Hi Leigha, you bring out a lot of interesting points in your blog post. I’ve never really thought of online documentation as a way to leave a legacy and overcoming the fear of death. Is it possible that since social media networks depend so much on a constant interaction between the network and the individual, that once the individual dies, no one will remember them anymore? Although it is true that a funny cat video may still be circulating online decades later, will they remember the the cat or the person who made the video? And to what extent does it matter that the individual is remembered as long as they have made an impact? Perhaps like your last question suggests, we sacrifice a lot of time and energy thinking about these questions that we may never have answers to and it is best to focus on the impact that we make in the present.