R5: Subjectivation

Subjectivation, to the best of my knowledge after reading these essays, would be how we form an image of who we are through what we put into the public sphere. This term was coined by a man known as Foucault far before the invention we know and love known as social media. Throughout Tim Rayner’s essay, there was a constant theme that in this new age of social media where we basically share everything, everything we share basically represents us to the rest of the world (most of whom we will never meet). As Rayner said in his essay, “All the content we share is tagged with an existential marker:

‘I sent this – it is part of my work. You shall know me by my works.’” (Rayner)

Of the limited social media that I use to keep up with the world (I deleted my Facebook account shortly after graduating high school [for various reasons]), the things I share through Twitter and Instagram that represent me seem to fall in a pretty solid spectrum: technology news and memes. My first link goes to an article about the upcoming transportation system envisioned by Elon Musk called the Hyperloop. The excitement about what this new kind of system could do for the future of transportation absolutely represents who I am. I am a huge geek when it comes to new technology and when I get a chance to talk about what might be in store years down the road for technology I can be very passionate about that. My second link goes to a Huffington Post article about someone who transformed memes into fine works of art. This is also a part of me that I do not hold back on sharing. A combination of Internet memes with the absurdity of turning them into works of art.

Now, the things that I would probably think twice about putting out there would overall revolve around politics. I have very strong opinions on politics but I realize that my opinions may not only bear a stark contrast to many others but they can also be about topics that many would consider to be untouchable in public discourse (at least in a casual manner). One article was about Bernie Sanders introducing a plan for tuition free college. I have strong opinions on this as, one, I am a college student and, two, the future generations will need all the education that they can get in order to solve the problems we will be facing down the road. The other article is about Trump and the Syria chemical attack. Again, an article that holds some very controversial issues but issues that are incredibly important to our current and future societies.

Rayner, Tim. "Foucault and Social Media: Life in a Virtual Panopticon." Philosophy for Change. N.p., 11 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.