I am sure like all of you, I had at least 1,704 "reactions" while reading our selections for this week (maybe more, maybe less? :) ) and I would like to run with one of those, and the other 1,703 reactions take a seat in the back! (like always, where to begin!)
Barbara Babcock's article from Semiotica "Reflexivity: Definitions and Discriminations" set-up an interesting distinction. She mentions that: "This capacity to differentiate and to establish a dialogue between a personal 'I' and a social 'me' is acquired through the 'conversation of gestures' primarily language. Language is the most important mirror in which the self is created and reflected" (1). I couldn't help but pause over this interesting distinction between 'I' and 'me' and instantly took a reflexive break on Facebook (how authentic of me). As I was contemplating the connections, I realized that Facebook is a very clear example of my attempt to populate a social self. I control what picture is associated with that "Me-ness" I would like others to see, and I control who is in my social circle. I can "unfriend" those who don't agree with my perception of self, and I can create a positive mirror of myself, one that perhaps I wish I saw in the mirror. This led me to consider Kenneth Gergen's concept of "Multiphrenia" where the multiple technological ways in which I am told how I should behave split/decenter my sense of self leaving me with a fractured "self" that can no longer hold to the same models of "selfness" that may have been applicable before (think Bourdieu's "Habitus"). Here is a great definition (excerpt) of Multiphrenia from Blackwell Encyclopedia:
The concept of multiphrenia originated in Kenneth Gergen's 1991 volume, The Saturated Self . In that work Gergen proposed that technological developments of the past century increasingly expose the individual to multiple opinions, values, and ways of life. In doing so, they draw the individual into a growing array of relationships, projects, and commitments. Further, in this socially saturated condition, the person is immersed in an extended world of “ought,” or criteria for social acceptability. As a result, the traditional ideal of a single, coherent self is gradually replaced by a sense of self as fragmented and decentered. The term multiphrenia was used, in particular, to refer to the individual's experience of conflict in values, ideals, opinions, and motives. Not only does such conflict leave one awash in reaching decisions, it also generates a sense of pervasive inadequacy and a suspicion of “best rational choice.” The concept was specifically not intended to designate a disease, but rather an increasingly common form of cultural life. (http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405124331_yr2011_chunk_g978140512433119_ss1-143)
I can actively constitute my sense of self, and how others see that created self through Facebook, and the multiple other forms of social media, therefore extending my social self further than Babcock may have ever predicted. I imagine this has to affect that personal self (I) at some point. I worry that so much of this need to populate who "Me" is and how "Me" is portrayed translates negatively onto how "I" regards itself in personal moments of reflection. That multiphrenia kicks in, and a fractured sense of understanding results, destabilizing that core of self-regarding subjectivity. I wonder if we then have different "selves" which are created, and are largely "historical fictions" of our life, and how we would like others to see how we live our life. If anything, I worry that this will be exponentially increased over time, and that "Me" will become that only "I" that there is, leaving a disjointed and lonely existence when reflexivity is applied in those rare moments of internal regard.
No comments:
Post a Comment