Una volta ho letto in un manuale di Sociologia della Comunicazione che “un evento di cui non si abbia notizia è come se non fosse mai avvenuto”. Il riferimento, ovviamente, era ai mezzi di comunicazione di massa.
Ma oggi i mezzi di comunicazione di massa sono a disposizione delle masse e vecchi principi come questo assumono improvisamente significati meno banali del previsto.
(…)
I was going through some notes i took when interviewing bloggers and teens about the things that they did to try to erase relationships that once existed. They went through a series of public and private erasures. De-Friend on every site imaginable. Erase all blog entries and profile posts professing love. Change from “in a relationship” to single. Erase from address book and block on the buddy list. Erase all SMSes. Erase all emails. Erase all comments. Burn all letters. The goal of course is “out of sight, out of mind” but the problem with the entwined nature of technology is that it doesn’t work out this way. People stumble across their exes on others’ profiles, in their friends’ comments. They pine away, obsessively checking their ex’s blog/MySpace to see if there’s any sign of misery that will make them feel better because even if they know better than to track them down in person, they can’t resist the anonymous stalking online, even if it prolongs the hurt.
(…)
I can’t help but wonder about the “realness” constructed by networked publics. How does persistence of some performances screw with this? How does the intertwined nature of things not allow for forgetting? How do people respond by refusing to acknowledge aspects of themselves in networked publics? Why is it that some people desperately want to make real the most sordid “intimate” details?
Source: musing on making things real
Originally published on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:18:10 GMT by zephoria (zephoria-vacation@zephoria.org)
