The (sad) pursuit of e-popularity

Oh, social media, you never fail to surprise me.
In my e-lifetime to date I've experienced numerous annoying viral social media born campaigns.

Share this status if you want to get rid of AIDS! 
Like this photo of my ticket and I'll give you £1,000,000 if I win the lottery!  
Urban legends which urge you to re-post this status in the next 4 minutes, or else 28 kittens will get hit by a truck. (The emotive ones always work a treat.)

Just when we thought we'd seen it all... Welcome the 'If I get 1 million likes' phenomenon. 

It's like anything, at first it's quite comical - some shy boy who eats his feelings (and everything else) wants to sleep with the hottie, and she only agreed to it because she never in a million years assumed it'd go viral, and so we click that electronically generated blue thumbs up. Like. We laugh. We laugh at how hysterically excited he will be when he shows her the "evidence". We laugh at the thought of her face when she realises she's sold herself online, both visually and physically. We perhaps share said photo.  
And then what? Unless they actually somehow manage to inform us fellow million likees that they have actually achieved their goal, what do we gain from this situation? Absolutely bugger all. Did he get to travel to England from Japan to buy fish and chips? Did she sleep with him? Did she actually run around the city naked? No idea. And, to be honest, after you've supported them in their quests, do you even remember liking it? Again, probably not.

So what is the deal with this unending desire to be approved of by strangers online? People will do anything online for their taste of fifteen minutes. The wilder, the better. Whether it's seeking re-tweets, likes, LOLs or shares, the world has become obsessed with strangers making their decisions for them. 
And this makes me sad. It's such thoughtless validation, and at some point it's going to end in tears. I can't help but feel that it leaves you with an unsettling thought of a new digital era in which nothing can define us more in life than our extravagant pursuit for internet fame.

I know everything about you (from Facebook)

Facebook has the power to destroy a relationship. Fact. Well, a potential one anyway.
 
The fact that the site actually has a term, 'Facebook stalking', is creepy enough. You're having a chat with someone, you ask what they're up to and you get the response: "Not much really, having a quick Facebook stalk and then I'll get in the bath." 

Silence.

AT LEAST subconsciously, you must be questioning when it became socially okay to declare your prying on strangers profiles publicly.

The worst part by far has got to be when you're in a bar, you look around and see Sally who you technically actually don't know, but you know she's got a boyfriend who she's just celebrated her 12 hour relationship with and she loves going to the cinema on Wednesdays and her mum calls her Sweetiepie Sally. 
You know too much. And you don't know her. That's bad enough as it is...

...Let's just hope you're not one of those who forgets that Sally doesn't actually don't know you, because she hasn't spent hours stalking your virtual life, and you ask "Hey Sal, how was the cinny on Wed?" -- n.b. at this point, she either walks away - which realistically is probably the most desired situation for you - or she, rather awkwardly, asks how on earth you knew she was at the cinema - and for heaven's sake just make out you were there too! No one publicly confesses to this shit!

It's the same when it comes to boys/potential romantic interests (PRIs) though. Too much trawling, and you think you know them before you actually do. At least give him/her a chance to defend themselves against that hideous photo you found! 
I think that right now there's a strong risk of excessive Facebook stalking either:
a) putting off you eventually meeting because there's no desire to 'get to know' them 
or
b) putting you off them altogether - oops.

The fun of meeting people is about starting from scratch and building relationships, but Facebook gives you this weird one up from the start, and it can turn out to be one of the best platforms ...or the shockingly worst.

"The Gulf War Did Not Take Place"

Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher and sociologist, once made the profound statement that "The Gulf war did not take place". Some thought it genious, others dismissed this as a sensationalist headline grabber sparked by a continental philosopher searching for the truth and reality. Because naturally philosophers are solely tormented people in the search for truth. If, however, you read past this simple statement, you would realise that Baudrillard wasn't actually denying the validity that the event happened, instead he was making a bold statement about the contentious issue of interpretation. That is, Baudrillard questioned whether the events that took place where comparable to how they were presented through the means of media.

For those of you who know me personally and whom have read my articles prior to this one, you will know I have a keen interest in reality television and the frightenly blurred relationship that it creates between fact and fiction. I learned of Baudrillard and his views in my Media class when I was at school, and I would say he has definitely influenced my outlook on life and made me cautious of the powerful entity that is the media itself.

With relation to the Gulf war, Baudrillard put forward the notion that it was a media spectacle, rehearsed much like a war game and then played out to the public as a simulation. The war itself, including the real violence and real bloodshed, was lost in the heavily shaped electronic narrative. That is to say the news reports and other forms of coverage were so heavily edited and focused on dangerously shot hand-held video clips and boasting of their supply of missiles that the nature of the war itself dissolved. The media stood in the way of communicating the truths of the war, as opposed to adding to it.

Whether or not you agree with Baudrillard picking of such a contentious topic to use as the example to put forth his theory, it would be hard to dispute how much the media shapes, influences and distorts our lives. I for one believe it's a sad reality that newspapers and their highly one-sided political bias shape our views of politics. If we don't know the whole unbiased and unedited truth about politics, then surely it's a dangerous situation to vote for someone or a party to gain political reign of our country that you know so little about.

Naturally you would want to deny that the media is a replacement of reality, but that is exactly what Baudrillard believed and I advocate. Consider your use of social media: you de-tag the photos you look bad in, you upload the ones that you look nice in, you write comedic and captivating statuses that make you sound interesting and you 'check-in' at 'cool' and 'hip' places - because that shows your friends and followers that you too are cool and hip. So you might not do all of that, but you're guilty of at least one point I guarantee. (I used to be jealous of compulsive Instagrammers, until I attempted to 'join the club' so to speak, only to realise it would take far too much time from my day trying to edit photographs to make me look artistic and effortlessly cool.) We ourselves are guilty of shaping our own lives through the media, and the media does this in turn to us on a much larger scale.

Next time you're watching the news, or reading the newspaper just think of how fictional and contrived the "news" really is. Because after all, reality cannot be replicated or reported, only distorted.

Why the internet is destroying our attention spans and love of books

There is something about everyday life that stops me from reading. I'd like to say it's because I'm too busy, but that would be lying. I believe the answer lies in modern technology, notably the internet. I blame it entirely for making me have the attention span of a four year old and not to mention ever too busy, doing quite literally nothing but looking at old friend's Facebook pages, to even attempt the challenge of reading a book. Four hundred pages of my attention, I personally feel, deserves me receiving a medal upon completion. I think it's the brightness of a laptop screen that draws me in, as opposed to me looking at a yellowing page in which the text is fading after years of sitting on a shelf. Maybe a Kindle could solve this, but alas I do not have a Kindle right now.

Is it not sad to know that newspapers are a dying breed? That a newspaper corporation (The Independent) actually had to create a smaller "bite-sized" read for consumers? Maybe I've lost numerous readers already due to the daunting length of all this text. I will I have to admit however, I do prefer the portion size of The I in comparison to lengthy broadsheets. The reason for newspapers and perhaps the old fashioned hobby of reading dying is only because we, as a nation, a global community and a world have become used to receiving small chunks of information at a time. How does this tie in to the internet? I hear you ponder. Here is the thinking: if you're anything like me, the first thing I do when I open up the internet is open up a tab for this blog, a tab for Twitter, a tab for Facebook, a tab for AOL mail and a tab for my university email. It's almost become routine. So, with an initial thought to just check on my blog, I end up automatically opening five tabs, if not more. I instantly multi-task, without necessarily knowing it. I constantly flick tabs, because after looking at my ever expanding wish-list on ASOS, suddenly I want to know the definition for 'insouciant' and then I need to use Wikipedia to verify all the useless bits of information I've discovered. 

So yes, the prospect of reading does indeed seem daunting to some nowadays. I am however proud to declare that I overcame this issue recently and in the past month I have read three-and-a-bit books. (Granted two of those were on holiday, but give me some credit.) I think it's important to take time out of your day, away from your computer, laptop or iPhone, to indulge yourself with a book, or even a magazine if that's all your day can really fit in. Maybe not the I'm-marrying-my-dad-and-my-mum's-my-bridesmaid ones though, because I hate to say it but they are actually just picture books with captions. Buy a content heavy one, and just enjoy an excellent past time. I guarantee you'll feel relaxed and at peace with the world afterwards. Well, maybe not the latter. I never said I was a miracle worker.

Friends today, gone tomorrow

Has it ever dawned on you how easy it is to delete friendships nowadays? You can thank the likes of Facebook for that. Facebook has re-shaped the way we communicate with one another, the way we present ourselves and the meaning of friendship. Once upon a time (way before my day) people would walk to school together, they would write letters and make pretty little intricate friendship bracelets for each other to signify being best friends forever. Oh, how times have changed. Nowadays friendship bracelets are bought online and delivered direct to the friend's address. I guess it's the thought that counts. Writing letters? Why bother spending all that time when you can write in watered down English aka. txt lnguage. Walking to school... whilst... talking to your friends? Nonsense. Pass me the iPod please. Communication just isn't what it used to be, and that's a frightening concept. Children are so engrossed with the internet and games consoles that virtual friends can in fact take the place of real life human friendships. 

So where does Facebook come into this? Facebook and other social networking sites have made it ever so simple and easy to unfriend and block people. I'm partial to trimming my friends list down, I won't lie. The way I see it it's like having the world looking at your own personal photo albums, birthday cards and conversations all at once. You wouldn't let a stranger do it, would you? 

Handy tip: Twitter suggests to me that right now to be 'in vogue' it's better to have more followers than the number you follow. Because that means you're too cool to bother with this friendship malarchy, right?

Maybe? I don’t think so.

Have you ever had that moment of realisation of something, anything? I have. I was sitting as comfortably could be on a train when I received a message from someone. The details aren’t important in my point (in fact they would probably bore you) but in response to me asking that person a question they replied with a “maybe”. It got to me. That word, it’s so infuriating. It just lacks everything what a good word should have. Now I'm not saying I never use it myself, because it's such a common word. It's just how overused this term has become in certain situations. Maybe lacks affirmation, it’s almost as if if it were a person it would have commitment issues. We have become a society whereby it is considered OKAY to respond to an event invitation on Facebook with a ‘maybe’. I might turn up, but then again I might not. Let’s see if a better invite comes up. Some have no intention of telling these promoters or people if they are ever going to actually attend. Facebook is just providing us with what is now considered to be a need - to have the opportunity to dodge the answers people want to know. Everyone needs to stand up, shake themselves off and regain the confidence in the use of the word ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Don’t be afraid to say no if you don’t want to do something or go somewhere. I guarantee people won’t disown you. In fact I am sure they would have more respect for an honest, affirmative answer.

Who am I?

It is Wednesday 9th May 2012 and today is the day I decided to start this blog. My name is Lauren Hubbard, people call me Lauren. I hope you're ready to read my stream of consciousness.

Introductions first, I am a first year Philosophy student at the University of Kent with a keen interest in business, literature (the books and magazine kind) and popular culture. I'm inquisitive and very focused on goals in my life. I think it's important to have short to long term goals to achieve for success, in my opinion, is best tasted personally.
 

In my upcoming posts I will discuss thought-provoking articles of interest and uses of social media to analyse what I like/dislike about campaigns, adverts, business decisions and so on. I hope to mix the hyper-analytical skills Philosophy encourages with my own ideas and opinions to come up with personal takes on the discussed content.