User:Max Dovey/Reading Writing Research Methodologies/TRIMESTER 1 rwrm/Facebook+Multiple self

Facebook, Anonymity, And the crisis of the multiple self

"Man is least himself when he talks i his own person.give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth" Epiograpgh of oscar Wilde, chosen by Julian assange.

_The culture of self disclousre inherit in social media _We are not looking to externalise other possible selves but the true self, deep inside. But this is is no longer soul searching, its a massive self branding exercise. _Adolescents sense an increasing importance to have a public, broadcasted self _Growing pressure to be yourself online with single identity policies from google, Facebook. _If privacy is under threat, how do we distinguish between rivet and public, what is 'the self' perhaps mass anonymity is a way out.

Celebrating multiple identites _early cyberculture was driven by a shared desire to be someone else. It had therapeutic effects according to turtle. _The intreated stoot for distributed empowerment by liberating people to mask their identity and perform as someone else. _Techno libertarian utopia the clashed with the data economy of web 2.0. _There was no true self, only an endless series of interchangeable masks.

• Key things - early cyberculture anonymity was a given and contributed towards the libertarian ideology of performing online as multiple self. Privacy was created through the liberating mediums of anonymity.

_Post 9/11 singular online identities encouraged as data becomes surveyed in the interests of national security. _Walled Gardens developed where your personal account could be a safe place with all the things you care about in one place. _Within Facebook their is a pathological dimension of commitment to the real self being surrounded by friends in a safe environment.

from Self-disclosure to self-promotion _The public pressure to refrain from anonymity cannot be countered without a better understanding of the 'self management' _"Cold Intimacies" by Illouz capitalism has turned into an "emotional culture" aka emotional capitalism _in the competitive networking context of work, we are trained to present ourselves as the best, fastest and smartest. While being aware this is a branded version of the self to increase our profiles in the market place. _Technology is not to blame for the dissolve of private life. It has been forced through the pornification of culture and the political economic push for increased transparency of private life that has been on the rise for decades. The internet has just institutionalised these trends

• The self managing subject performs public identies as part of their understanding of themselves as a homo-economicus. The digital services just institutionalise what has been developed for a long time.

religion of the Positive _Relentless positivity embedded in the design of Facebook and social media (e.g. no dislike button) _Barbara Ehrenreich shows how relentless promotion requires "deliberate self-deception, including a constant effort to repress or block out unpleasant possibilities and 'negative' thoughts" _Social network sites flatten everyday culture into mono tone positivity. _"optimistic folklore" Polish English philosopher Zygmunt Bauman says "beyond the binaries of self and other, the fractionalized self is also highly fictionalised, self defeating, and illusionary. _On Facebook, amongst "friends", we play theatre acting as if we play ourselves. _Social networking is not about affirming something as truth but more about making truth through endless clicking. _as a way out its fine to admin "I am not who i am"

Triumph of the airheads _exit strategy 2 : dismantle the deep consumerist desire that drives the marketisation of the self in the data economy. In this argument the endless self promotion is no entirely based on narcissism but the active subject competing in the capitalist market place. _ to like products, accumulate followers and share experiences are all economic contributions from the data subject competing in the market place. _Hyper consumerist societies that are driven by debt, overwork and related illnesses. _Clive Hamilton defines this symptom as "Affluenza: When too much is Never Enough" 1 - The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from keeping up with the joneses 2- An epidemic of stress, overwork, was and indebtedness. 3- An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. We see social media as a tool to further accelerate our desired lifestyles whilst at the same time presenting itself as a channel to relieve tension by piling up the comfort prisons. _Shelly Gare - " The Triumph of the airheads and the retreat of common sense" Airheads adore luxury brands and don't read anything but self help books and glossy magus. _"The Children of the real time revolution are driven by the hyper short term. _Culture of airheadedness is rife.

Reintroducting Anonymity _Revisit Anonymity in Todays Context. Re-imagine anonymity as a way to recoup an energy for metamorphosis, the liberation of becoming somebody else. _Anonymity is now viewed as dangerous "The free citizen shows his face" _A decade after 9/11 there are still many subcultures running an anonymous protocol (p2p, tor, 4chan) _You create a stable reputation for an alias (like a wiki editor)

Anonymous is not your friend _"Operation PaybacK" by anonymous where sophisticated hacking was executed using DDOS , many naive young people joined in, downloaded the bot and recieved prosecution from the law because they did not mask their IP address. _No support from anonymous when individuals were discovered by FBI. _The question emerges whether protesting anonymously is indeed a basic citizen right _If voting is anonymous, why isn't voicing an opinion on political subjects? _ reject FB culture and "I need to become anonymous to become present" _Anonymity as an exercise in play may be a necessary delusion that saves us from the idea of the true self, advocated by Facebook as our one and only option. _We are told to ask what the mask is hiding, instead of what the wearer is performing. _The general view is that "visibility and transparency are no longer signs of democratic openness but of administrative availability" _The Burka as a the ultimate provocation to Western transparency. _In the context of social media the question is how to integrate offline acts into the equation without turning the real world into te next wave._ _If everything had worked out, networks would of kicked off the erosion of power structures. What will happen if we overcome the fear of surveillance and control? _Will anonymous action , like voting in public elections, no longer be nessecary because that information will be available by other means? or should we remain cautious and see the carnival balle masque as the temporary state of exception. s