Week 7
Honestly, when I first heard the word 'Automediality' nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, came to my mind. I had genuinely never heard of it. It also sounded really complicated but I'm glad to report it really isn't. We've all had something or other to do with automediality. If you use any form of social media then you definitely have.
Nowadays we put our whole lives online. Got a new job? Better update facebook. New outfit? Definitely an instagram post. Annoyed at someone or something? Twitter would love to know all about it. We post, blog or tweet anything and sometimes everything. Automediality demonstrates the process, rather than a completed product. You could compare it to an autobiography, which is a complete work of someones life, at least the aspects of their life that they want and are willing to share. Whereas, automediality is the process of interacting, living, adapting and presenting in the digital space, which remains ongoing (Rak, 2015).
Social media being a notable example for this. I used to be a very active participant in all forms of social media. I've had so many different accounts, you'd think I was a different person. I used to be very active on twitter and tumblr as well as instagram and facebook. I would post any accomplishments, any opinions, feelings and thoughts, what I did that day and I'd even post just random things that I can't even remember, but know I'd be embarrassed about now. Nowadays, I have nothing to do with the first two, so much so I have deactivated both accounts. However, I still have a facebook account, which I rarely post to anymore but loves to remind me of those days where my feed would be flooded with my excessive fangirling over now irrelevant things, and an instagram account which I update every so often. Instagram is now the only account I am actively on, which is a huge difference. Of course I have other social media but nothing significant enough to talk about because I am rarely active on them.
The thing is both previously and now, I only post things that I believe show a good side of myself. Things that make me look good. 12 year old Eden, though much too young for the internet, loved the little white lies to make her look good. 21 year old Eden, just likes posting cool photos with friends that makes her looks more outgoing than she really is. But in that process, moving from excessive posting to rarely, you can see a difference clearly. You can see how my personality has changed overtime as it has been documented in the digital space.
However, it is all subjective. Some people may be super honest, posting everything about themselves and their lives, others may love to post all the time but post about how they wish their lives were so they could be perceived different. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are people who don't post at all and just watch what happens, even as a form of entertainment (me). Regardless, you will find yourself participating one way or another. Unless you are completely offline. This means, no social media or any forms. A smart phone? What's that? or a Smart watch? Never heard of it. I just don't see that being a case. Even smart watches have settings to log all your data in an online database. Wearing smart technology like a fitbit or garmin is like keeping a diary, it is just in the form of data (Cardell, 2018).
I know this is getting rather long but the only other thing I wanted to talk about is forms of virtual games, which require avatars such as the sims or Second life, as mentioned in this documentary . I've never participated in any of this but I've always found it interesting. How people can portray themselves however they like and have a match an avatar that represents themselves too. But I always assumed it was just a game and that it didn't count towards ones personality, however, from watching the documentary I've come to see that sometimes it is just as significant as posting to a standard form of social media. Some people put their whole selves into their avatars and it creates this whole other space for them to interact in and live and that to me is pretty cool.
Referneces:
Cardell, K. (2018). Is a Fitbit a Diary? Self-Tracking and Autobiography. Media Culture Journal. 21(2). Retrieved from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1348
Draxter. (2018, May 17). Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is Me [full feature film] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQw02-me0W4&feature=emb_logo
Rak, J. (2015). Life writing versus automedia: The Sims 3 game as a life lab. Biography, 38(2), 155-180.
Nowadays we put our whole lives online. Got a new job? Better update facebook. New outfit? Definitely an instagram post. Annoyed at someone or something? Twitter would love to know all about it. We post, blog or tweet anything and sometimes everything. Automediality demonstrates the process, rather than a completed product. You could compare it to an autobiography, which is a complete work of someones life, at least the aspects of their life that they want and are willing to share. Whereas, automediality is the process of interacting, living, adapting and presenting in the digital space, which remains ongoing (Rak, 2015).
Social media being a notable example for this. I used to be a very active participant in all forms of social media. I've had so many different accounts, you'd think I was a different person. I used to be very active on twitter and tumblr as well as instagram and facebook. I would post any accomplishments, any opinions, feelings and thoughts, what I did that day and I'd even post just random things that I can't even remember, but know I'd be embarrassed about now. Nowadays, I have nothing to do with the first two, so much so I have deactivated both accounts. However, I still have a facebook account, which I rarely post to anymore but loves to remind me of those days where my feed would be flooded with my excessive fangirling over now irrelevant things, and an instagram account which I update every so often. Instagram is now the only account I am actively on, which is a huge difference. Of course I have other social media but nothing significant enough to talk about because I am rarely active on them.
The thing is both previously and now, I only post things that I believe show a good side of myself. Things that make me look good. 12 year old Eden, though much too young for the internet, loved the little white lies to make her look good. 21 year old Eden, just likes posting cool photos with friends that makes her looks more outgoing than she really is. But in that process, moving from excessive posting to rarely, you can see a difference clearly. You can see how my personality has changed overtime as it has been documented in the digital space.
However, it is all subjective. Some people may be super honest, posting everything about themselves and their lives, others may love to post all the time but post about how they wish their lives were so they could be perceived different. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are people who don't post at all and just watch what happens, even as a form of entertainment (me). Regardless, you will find yourself participating one way or another. Unless you are completely offline. This means, no social media or any forms. A smart phone? What's that? or a Smart watch? Never heard of it. I just don't see that being a case. Even smart watches have settings to log all your data in an online database. Wearing smart technology like a fitbit or garmin is like keeping a diary, it is just in the form of data (Cardell, 2018).
I know this is getting rather long but the only other thing I wanted to talk about is forms of virtual games, which require avatars such as the sims or Second life, as mentioned in this documentary . I've never participated in any of this but I've always found it interesting. How people can portray themselves however they like and have a match an avatar that represents themselves too. But I always assumed it was just a game and that it didn't count towards ones personality, however, from watching the documentary I've come to see that sometimes it is just as significant as posting to a standard form of social media. Some people put their whole selves into their avatars and it creates this whole other space for them to interact in and live and that to me is pretty cool.
Referneces:
Cardell, K. (2018). Is a Fitbit a Diary? Self-Tracking and Autobiography. Media Culture Journal. 21(2). Retrieved from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1348
Draxter. (2018, May 17). Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is Me [full feature film] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQw02-me0W4&feature=emb_logo
Rak, J. (2015). Life writing versus automedia: The Sims 3 game as a life lab. Biography, 38(2), 155-180.
i was exactly the same on social media... especially my Facebook. occasionally i get memory notification of my old posts and man... are they cringey! nowadays i'm mostly posting about important things; like the occasional pic of my cat lol
ReplyDeleteid say i'm much more active on my Instagram, of which i post my art and therefore not my whole self. i wouldn't say i'm lying to people when i post online, i'm just cutting out the dreary, boring stuff yanno? like who would read or like that. it is very true that usually we post what we think people would want to see from us, and what makes us look good than "here's what i wore to bed tonight!!!!"