Catfish

Online we can be whoever we want to be, there are no barriers stopping us. There’s this really interesting documentary called Catfish about a young man who meets a family from across the country online. (Spoiler alert!) After a nine month relationship he discovers the family he knows are not what they seem -all the family and friends profiles in which he’d been interacting with, including the nineteen year old girl he fell in love with, were all run by the same person, a middle-aged woman. You can never be one hundred per cent sure with what you’re getting online, and whether that be with a potential girlfriend or eBay purchase you should always be weary.  

(I may have just watched Catfish and wanted to link it somehow, this is my blog, I make my own rules.)

(http://blogupnorth.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/online-personality-real-life-personality.png)

 If we think of virtual communities (and the creation of them) we are likely to think about programs such as The Sims or Second Life. Where you able to create a world, create yourself and interact with those in it. Programs like Second Life in particular aren’t just about replicating consumer societies with a better-looking version of yourself as an avatar; it’s about reinventing yourself completely. You can be as controversial, confidently or slutty as you like because in the end nobody really knows who you are, and if that personality doesn’t work out, it’s all too easy to reinvent a new one. Through these virtual communities we are able to be everything we’re too afraid to be in the real world and experience society differently. (Just like the woman in Catfish was doing, it links!)

(http://data.whicdn.com/images/1364637/tumblr_kwk0dvEdyJ1qa018eo1_500_large.jpg)

Jean Baudrillard discusses the idea of Hyperreality as something where users are unable to distinguish between true reality and created simulations of this. But in Baudrillard’s discussions he explains how users are able to blur the lines so far between reality online and offline that they start to create symbols and meanings for things that don’t actually exist. When I think of this, I think of popular games such as Farmville, where the user knows they gain no true value from playing in the real world, but lose sleep, time and real money playing to gain a status symbol that means nothing. Rheingold explores how wonderful virtual communities can be. How they surpass time and space limitations and help make our lives better. Virtual communities are great, I often wonder how many of my friends I would still speak to if I wasn’t on Facebook; but I think virtual communities aid in the creation of hyperrealities, where now friendships stay alive by the mutual like of posts.    

(http://data.whicdn.com/images/7753094/tumblr_lhnp5mhfP91qddkxxo1_500_large.png)

I guess the dying question is ‘will we all end up living on second life?’ and I say no. Nothing beats human interaction, the feeling of physically being around people and having real world experiences. However, new innovative products such as the Durex ‘Fundawear’ (underwear for long distance lovers, that allows each pair to feel touch through an app –watch the video) make it seem as if physical real world reactions will slowly fade away.

We are now able to shop, work and study online; things we never dreamed of years ago. It does leave us wondering where the future will take us, and how far it will surpass our wildest dreams. 

(http://data.whicdn.com/images/60126885/large.jpg)

But who knows really...