As technology is evolving, we as a society are oblivious to the magnitude of immersion that is steadily blurring the lines between our private and digital life. The integration of these new medias is forging a self- dependence, as put by Boyd and Ellison 2007, we beginning to “type oneself into being.” The decision to be made in this argument is weighing up whether the loss of privacy with the gratifications of public online communication (Taddicken and Jers 2011) and new opportunities for self-formation can allow us to be free yet mediated at the same time?”(Deuze 2011).
In past years there has been a materialization of social media, that has triggered a hybridity or entanglement of our social practices, technologies and people, as explored in week 2’s “society/identity”. Indiana University’s, Mark Deuze, explores this concept by stating that the invisibility of media is exemplified as our use of new media intensifies. As the digitalisation of media evolves, so with it does our consumption and use. It has become commonplace to converge our daily tasks through the use of technology- ipad’s are wired to control household technologies and social media forums and blogs allow us to exist and progress on a virtual level. This virtual existence allows us to type ourselves into being, as we reaffirm and shape our personal psyches through our online relations and experiences (Boyd and Ellison 2007, 211). Facebook, is arguably the cause of this prolific shift in how we communicate online. as it has provided an entirely new platform to express oneself. It provides one with the convenience of being able to instant message a friend, or video call, a distant relative or reiterate our likes and dislikes online through publicly re -blogging and sharing content.
As Pearson, articulately states, our prolific dependence and affirmation one receive when they publish that #foodporn Instagram/Facebook post, opens to door to the glass bedroom idea (Pearson, 2009). As we look affirm our self-formation through online exchanges, a blurring of what should remain public and private occurs. Dependant on ones privacy settings, the people we allow to view ones profile and the multiple mediums we use when blogging/sharing content causes a convergence of different publics. As information sharing is in most cases a voluntary submission to self-disclosure and self-surveillance, it is becoming apparent that we are managing our privacy in new ways,(Raynes-Goldie 2010) Boyd 2011. However as articulated by Papacharissi and Gibson ,“Sociality has always required some (voluntary) abandonment of privacy. In order to become social, we must give up some of our private time and space so as to share it with others.” (Papacharissi and Gibson 2011, 78)
As our technologies continue to evolve, so to will the ways in which seek to reaffirm our sense of self and identity within society. One must continue to remain mindful that the more the process of self-formation is enriched by mediated symbolic forms, the more the self becomes dependent on media systems which lie beyond its control”(Thompson 1995, 214).
Deuze, Mark, 201. “Media Life” Media culture & society 33(1): 137-148. Viewed march 11th, 2014
Lessig, Lawrence, (2008). Chapter 7: Hybrid Economies. In Lessig, Lawrence, Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy, (pp.177 - 224). New York: Penguin. Viewed, march 11th, 2014
Papacharissi, Zizi and Gibson, Paige L, (2011). Chapter 7 : Fifteen Minutes of Privacy : Privacy, Sociality, and Publicity on Social Network Sites. In Trepte, Sabine and Reinecke, Leonard, Privacy online : perspectives on privacy and self-disclosure in the social web, (pp.75 - 89). Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Viewed march 11th, 2014
Brake, David. R (2013). Are we all online content creators now ? Web 2.0 and digital divides., Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication pp.1-19.