Facets of Personhood and Social Media
Aug. 30th, 2015 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potofsoupThis came out of a conversation with the Hoosband, and the basic concept is pretty straightforward, but I think it's helpful to put here at the beginning of this blog, especially as we're considering its relationship to tumblr.
And the idea is thus: you do different things on different social media platforms to be validated and accepted as a person. It's like how in real life small talk and ice breaker conversation differs depending on what type of group you're interacting with.
- On various internet forums, you are merely your opinion. People don't actually care if you have a dog or if you have a soft spot for round birbs
- On Facebook, for example, you post photos of you doing fun happy things with friends and family. People care that you love your dog, but not necessarily about your soft spot for round birbs.
- On the tumblrs, on the other hand, it's the opposite: people find out your love for round birbs way before the fact that you own a dog. But I think the thing that makes you really become a "person" in the eyes of tumblr is openness about the weird emotional bits of your life. People talk about their struggles with depression much more openly on tumblr than many other places.
But people don't talk much about real life events on tumblr, and people don't talk much about real emotions on facebook. (Example: I can find out that a friend is changing jobs on FB, but not how they actually feel about it. OTOH, I can find out a friend is feeling really displaced and lonely, but not the fact that they just moved cross-country.) Between tumblr and facebook I'll always choose tumblr, because tumblr's definition of personhood (internal emotions) jives better with my own than Facebook's definition of personhood (external accomplishments).
I don't think either is enough, though. When I follow people on tumblr, I *do* want to know their real life contexts. (What's your job? Are you too tired to create when you get home? Do you like your living space and your commute?) And when I look at facebook, I basically want to email my friends and say "Okay, I saw the photo, but what's *really* going on?"
And I think DW/LJ can provide some of that broader context that is often missing from tumblr. What makes someone seem like a "person" on DW? I'm not quite sure, but I'd love to find out. I *like* that DW is more ponderous than tumblr -- without the reblog feature, gifsets of cute birbs aren't cluttering up my flist. I can actually read and write longer, more personal posts directed at a much smaller audience, and more importantly, know that the lower traffic volume means that these posts will stick around for days, not hours.
Anyways, I think one thing that I will aim for is to post some of the more archival and personal stuff here and see what happens.
And the idea is thus: you do different things on different social media platforms to be validated and accepted as a person. It's like how in real life small talk and ice breaker conversation differs depending on what type of group you're interacting with.
- On various internet forums, you are merely your opinion. People don't actually care if you have a dog or if you have a soft spot for round birbs
- On Facebook, for example, you post photos of you doing fun happy things with friends and family. People care that you love your dog, but not necessarily about your soft spot for round birbs.
- On the tumblrs, on the other hand, it's the opposite: people find out your love for round birbs way before the fact that you own a dog. But I think the thing that makes you really become a "person" in the eyes of tumblr is openness about the weird emotional bits of your life. People talk about their struggles with depression much more openly on tumblr than many other places.
But people don't talk much about real life events on tumblr, and people don't talk much about real emotions on facebook. (Example: I can find out that a friend is changing jobs on FB, but not how they actually feel about it. OTOH, I can find out a friend is feeling really displaced and lonely, but not the fact that they just moved cross-country.) Between tumblr and facebook I'll always choose tumblr, because tumblr's definition of personhood (internal emotions) jives better with my own than Facebook's definition of personhood (external accomplishments).
I don't think either is enough, though. When I follow people on tumblr, I *do* want to know their real life contexts. (What's your job? Are you too tired to create when you get home? Do you like your living space and your commute?) And when I look at facebook, I basically want to email my friends and say "Okay, I saw the photo, but what's *really* going on?"
And I think DW/LJ can provide some of that broader context that is often missing from tumblr. What makes someone seem like a "person" on DW? I'm not quite sure, but I'd love to find out. I *like* that DW is more ponderous than tumblr -- without the reblog feature, gifsets of cute birbs aren't cluttering up my flist. I can actually read and write longer, more personal posts directed at a much smaller audience, and more importantly, know that the lower traffic volume means that these posts will stick around for days, not hours.
Anyways, I think one thing that I will aim for is to post some of the more archival and personal stuff here and see what happens.
