R4: Blurring the Lines of Reality and Self

Blurring the Lines of Reality and Self

            A social theory that is unfamiliar, but not necessarily new, is becoming increasingly applicable to social life as it exists today.  Post-modernism is a social theory that focuses more on finding truth as a process that is continuous and never final, as opposed to the idea of truth being an attainable goal with a pronounced ending.  One of the characteristics of post-modern theory that is widely used to analyze sociality is the idea of de-centralization.  As it pertains to the Internet and social media, de-centralization is used to blur the lines of reality and self by, and for, the user.  It is for this reason that social media has become a popular, and often preferred, form of social engagement. 

            On a social media platform, the user creates a social profile, or identity.  This is the user’s projection of themselves that they wish to show others in this online space.  In a post-modern analysis, one of the aspects of de-centralization is simulation, or copiability.  The first of the four orders of simulation, explained by Ritzer, is that simulation reflects reality.  In terms of social media, the user profile can be a true reflection of reality, but often the user can portray themselves as how they wish to be seen by others rather than how they are seen in the real world.  This is one of the most distinct ways that the lines of reality and self are blurred by using social media.  For example, in Turkle’s “Aspect of Self” an interview with a woman, when asked about her upcoming meeting with someone she had been carrying on a romantic relationship with that was strictly online, she said, “I didn't exactly lie to him about anything specific, but I feel very different online. I am a lot more outgoing, less inhibited.”  The woman here created an image of herself online that is supposed to accurately portray who she is in the real world, and even though she is trying to be authentically the same person online as who she is in real life, she still feels like a different person online.  

One could also argue the existence of the third order of simulation as explained by Ritzer in an analysis of online social interaction.  In the third order, the simulations have the absence of reality.  One individual had been active on online “dungeons” or MUDs that were a text based virtual reality where characters were controlled by the user and able to navigate throughout the world via text commands.  In these worlds, he would create multiple characters, “On MUDs, Gordon has experimented with many different characters, but they all have something in common. Each has qualities that Gordon Is trying to develop in himself” (Turkle, 1997).  

In the true sense of simulation as multiple copies, Gordon had created multiple copies of himself via his online characters, but in his characters, he is making a version of himself that is not an accurate depiction of who he is in real life.  With these multiple characters, it is easy to argue here that immersion in these multiple lives and personalities could result in, or has been caused by, an absence of reality.  What Gordon is not in his social life in the real world, he has created in his lives online. 

Both examples show individuals placing less emphasis on their real-life selves, and making their online selves of more importance.  This de-centralization of the self is a common practice of social media communities today.  The online environment is continuously changing in its landscape, and is changing the way people interact online, which in turn affects their real-life relationships.  So, it makes perfect sense to analyze these continuous changes with theory that continuously keeps the conversation going, and never searching for the truth in terms of an absolute end.

Sources:

Turkle, Sherry, “Aspects of the Self” Chapter 7. Life on the Screen, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, 1997. (PDF)

 Ritzer, “The Internet Through a Postmodern Lens” http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/11/19/the-internet-through-a-postmodern-lens/