New Media - Public vs Private Identities
“Naturally, when you look at someone’s music, you make judgements.” (Levy, 2006)
New media technologies connect us, as individuals, to a wider community.
However, despite the public and social nature of these new media technologies, I would argue that personal media choice has become increasingly private to individuals.
Coherent with Levy’s (2006) perspective, iPods are “emotional fingerprints”, and can say a lot about your personality.
The audience defines the popularity of this new media (Leong, 2012). So, we as both consumers and the audience must selectively choose what media to consume, in order to publically portray a fashionable identity, in a wider, judgemental, ‘techno-savvy’ community.
Yet, although people can use these devices to extend their true identity, others can create false alter-ego identities (Levy, 2006), to conform to ‘techno-cool’ trends.
Nevertheless, I would argue; what is so wrong with using new media as a way of fitting in?...Ultimately, isn’t fashion equally as much an expression of identity and ALSO a mechanism to conform?
New media has publically entered our culture, been publically embraced into our culture, but has privatised ‘real’ personal media choices.
Are you afraid of the potential public judgement from your song preferences?
References
Leong, S. 2012. KCB206. New Amusement Arcade: Music, Games and Films: Week 3. Accessed 16th March 2012. Lecture notes. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au
Levy, S. (2006). The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, New York: Simon & Schuster
Further Reading
Lesley Cowie wrote a great commentary piece on the latter view, which can be accessed at: http://lcowie.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/social-medias-influence-on-adolescent-identity/.
There is also a great article on Forbes online magazine about the many facets of personality one can have on the internet: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/01/26/multiple-personalities-and-social-media-the-many-faces-of-me/
