Monday, 8 October 2012

Mediated Identity


In response to Kate McAtee’s post “The Internet has become a weapon”.


Statistics have suggested that each day, 55 million status updates are made. I find this incredible, and to think that 55 million people have disengaged themselves from the moment to present it to others who are absent seems ridiculous. Why do we update our status? Why do we check in at the beach? Why do we suddenly hashtag everything that comes to mind and sight? It all comes down to mediated identity.

I will agree with Kate, I am guilty of it too. The guilty pleasures of an iPhone. It is all too simple to take a snapshot, choose a filter, upload and bam – you have a hipstomatic photo complete with a check-in, emoticons, hashtags and a box for comments. The obsession with Instagram in this day and age is ludicrous, with people posting images from pets to picnics, and everything in between. We spend so much time making sure our meal looks good in our Instagram photo that it is usually cold by the time we eat it.


In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately $1 billion. Instagram was Facebook's strongest competitor and would have taken over the world of mobile photo sharing. Smart move Facebook.

So Kate, I couldn't agree with you more. Social networking is consuming us one check-in at a time, and it is sad to think that there will be no turning back..

The real question is do people really care about what we are eating for breakfast?  



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