Incomplete
17 years ago
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
project 1 ideas
When this project was first assigned i worried about how i may tackle it, i looked at several approaches and ended up with several pages of scratched out words and phrases. My first instinct was the fact that technology influences someones image of their self or others. I personally have been involved with problems with the medias influence on body image. I was thinking about focusing my paper on how the digital culture has influenced our perception of ourselves and of others, as well as how it has effected our college, academics, and even how we meet each other and interact. Myspace and facebook are two big examples of how we meet each other and become friends with people we have never seen. Has anyone stopped ti question if these people they meet online are really the person they say they are? Also, has anyone noticed that since the digital culture has boomed over the past ten years that the obesity of our children is greatly on the rise? i believe there is a link somewhere there that i believe may be good to include in my paper. I too am not that involved in digital culture outside of myspace and occasionally facebook, which i use mostly to email friends and keep up to date with what is going on with everyone.
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3 comments:
The beauty of an online persona is you can be who you want to be. it is a form of escapism. It is when that escapism becomes a mental cul de sac that psychological problems with idenity can begin.
When I was a kid, I would pretend I would play golf with 3 balls, with one ball I would be Jack Nicklaus, with the other, I would be Arnold Palmer and the third would be the young upstart me challenging my heroes.
In fact, today I can still use my "Nicklaus" swing or "Palmer" swing (which my swing naturally errs towards anyway) and play good golf with both.
Now you can act it out in an interactive world, not in your imagination, no wonder it is so captivating.
Focusing your paper on the idea of being who ever you want to be online actually goes along with the idea of how we feel about ourselves. The idea that the world tells us how we should look does not go along with the reality of who we are. Sitting behinde a computer screen using our words instead of being seen, allows us a way to become exactly what we are told we should be.
Your paper will be very interesting.
I think this idea of self construction of identity is really interesting. It seems as though just as society gets more restrictive about who we should or can be, the idea of being who you want online gets more persuasive. I just finished a workshop on second life, and there you can be who you want. You can physically alter your image to whatever you choose, even making yourself part animal or cyborg. Why do you think this idea of completely constructing an outrageous self is so compelling to people? What does it say about our society that we look for an utalize this outlet?
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