More Than
Just You
Jason O’Neill
Digital Cyborg Girl
Image From: www.fxcovers.com
As I mentioned back in the first week, the online you is not
the same as the real you. You are just being signified by the online persona
that you have created. The online you is considered a cyborg, a hybrid of
organism and machine. This is because social networking sites such as Facebook
has software that limits the identity choices of you. Facebook can be seen as a
‘shadow biographer’ (Van Luyn, 2015). If you do not fit the software’s social
normalities then you are silenced. For example, if you do not suit any of
Facebook’s given relationship status then you are not given a choice to add
your own, it is only what they provide. Making the online you part you and part
software, hence the cyborg idea.
When we go online we leave traces of ourselves (Van Luyn,
2015). Online searches and interactions are
becoming exclusively "tailored" for individuals (McNeil,
2012). This includes Facebook taking your searches and showing an advertisement
that is related to your searches. This is the kind of thing that traps individuals
into using social networking sites such as Facebook on a daily basis. This
gives a very post humanistic idea that Facebook is restricting the individual’s
ability to act autonomously.
References:
McNeill, L. (2012). There is
no "I" in network: Social networking sites and post human
auto/biography. Biography, Vol 35, No 1. pp. 65-82. DOI: 10.1353/bio.2012.0009.
Van Luyn, A. (2015). BA1002:
Our space: networks, narative and the making of place, Lecture 6: Networked
narratives: intertextuality. [PowerPoint slide]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image From:
Fxcovers. (2015). Facebook
Cover Photo Digital Cyborg Girl. Retrieved from Facebook Cover Photos -
Transform Your Timelines!: http://www.fxcovers.com/
I definitely agree with you when you say "the online you isn't the same real you", especially through social media, we are able to construct any kind of identity that can connect us with others immediately. But what we don't realise is how easily we are put into categories on social media sites, especially Facebook, you can easily connect with people that share similar profile characteristics. With just a few simple steps you are able to design and characterise your profile to an age group, gender, social class or culture and you have the ability to connect with people that share similar profiles. Though this might seem like an effective social strategy, what most people over look is that these Facebook profile questionnaires are a gateway for anybody to be accepted and fit into any social group they want. Therefore, giving them the power to create any kind of profile they please and succeed.
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