Paper IV: Creating the “REAL” Self
Evander Holyfield, the three-time boxing heavyweight champion of the world, once stated that, “a man’s greatest victory is achieving his full potential.” Throughout our lives we continuously create and re-create ourselves until, hopefully, we find out exactly who we are and what we stand for. In order to achieve this, we must venture out into the world and experience what it is that defines us as people. Whether it be music, fashion, athletics, hobbies, computers, etc., we all define ourselves quite differently, but in order to discover our callings in life, we must first experience these things to establish whether or not these particulars truly define us as people.
In the past few weeks I couldn’t help but notice the correlations between virtual online communities, and those of the real world. Continuously I heard arguments claiming that virtual communities were not real, and that who people are in these communities greatly differs from who they are in everyday life. On the other hand, I also realize that many of the reasons of why people claim these communities aren’t real, could also be used in the context of the everyday real world of self-creation and definition.
In order to determine whether or not these online communities were truly real communities or not, I investigated the creation of identity on the internet as opposed to that of the real world. To achieve this, first one must define community in general. I found community to best be described as a group of people networking together for a common interest or concern. Having established the boundaries of community as I have defined it, I next will investigate the geographic importance of communities here in the 21st century.
Inventions like the telephone, airplanes, and automobiles have made it possible to establish and sustain important social relationships outside of one’s immediate physical neighborhood (Fernback and Thompson readings). Because of the vast changes that we have undergone in the 21st century, we see that a change in community, therefore, had to eventually take place. Thompson states that “community is now conceptualized not in terms of physical proximity but in terms of social networks.” This being the case, then whether or not your physical neighbors share a place in your network is completely irrelevant. A good example of this is my neighbors in Dallas. I have never had a single conversation with them in my entire life, but according to those who believe these are “real” members of my community, these people are more real in my community than those who I have online chats with on a daily basis. I don’t think so!
Having established more bounds to the community, a person looking to define his/herself now limits their interests a bit to establish a network with those who share a common interest with him/her. Networks renew community by strengthening bonds that connect us to the wider social world. Therefore, one may now identify him/herself as a part of a particular group(s) and can now begin establishing deeper roots to their community of choice, whether it be online or not because, as we have seen from the examples, the boundaries of community become fluid. The next area of exploration of whether online communities can truly be called so, and if so, how one continues to create a chosen image, becomes evident through the sense of identity as it pertains to online communities.
Kollock states that “Online interaction strips away many of the cues and signs that are part of face-to-face interaction. This poverty of signals is both a limitation and a resource, making certain kinds of interaction more difficult but also providing room to play with one’s identity.” I realized that we continuously play with our identities all of the time in everyday life. Sudden fashion changes, haircuts, or even new interests can create the illusion of a completely different person. This being the case, although the means presented online differ sometimes greatly, the end result achieved is still the same - a brand new you. Having again seen the similarities between the virtual and real world communities, I will explore further identity on the internet, especially as it applies to anonymity.
Virtual communities allow people to explore things of everyday life in a new context such as “cross-dressing,” or switching genders online. This seems absurd, but in reality we see people doing it all of the time in the real world. This is the case even more often online because no one knows who the cross-dresser is. Even beyond “cross-dressing,” these communities allow people to play with other aspects of life such as profession, social status, etc. These same explorative measures are also very common in the real world as well. The virtual community may be actually more beneficial for those with social inhibitions because of anonymity, they can really express themselves online without feeling their everyday inhibitions. The bad side is that people can act like jerks, but there are coding and social regulations that police this issue. Having seen the heightened ability of people to play with and create different identities online, the next issue I will research is how and why people create their new identities on the internet.
In everyday life people borrow from their heroes, and acclaimed figures in society or their community in order to demonstrate what values they support and hold. From the readings and class discussions, we have seen that we are not simply made up of one or two of these values and borrowed traits, but rather we are a huge mess of them created by parents, role-models, sports figures, etc. The concept that applies here is that of bricolage and bricoleur. Claude Levi-Strauss says that bricolage can be seen as operating through several key transformations which are just as visible in the authorship of webpages as in any other genre or medium. He further elaborates by stating that “Bricolage involves more than simply the appropriation of materials: it also involves the construction of the bricoleur’s identity (Lévi-Strauss ibid.; Jenkins 1992). The values of the bricoleur are reflected in the assumptions which underlie specific inclusions, allusions, omissions, adaptations and arrangements.” This is easily seen from the context of the internet, but how might this concept apply to communities in everyday life?
This was answered by our class discussion whereas a person creates his/her identity from already existing ideas (mostly popular) and these are then adapted and borrowed to recreate one’s identity. A simple way of thinking about it is like when a fictional character named Johnny wakes up in the morning, looks at himself in front of the mirror, and asks himself, “who do I want to be today?” Well, he puts on his sunglasses signifying his coolness, he styles his hair in the same fashion as his favorite lead singer in order to attract the women because he saw last night just how successful it made the singer, he puts on his nice attire to impress his teachers, and then he carries his book on 20th century art history openly to demonstrate his studious and artsy side. In essence, we all carry, wear, and advocate these ideals in everyday life just the same as if we were to borrow these same concepts onto our own homepages. Having given these arguments, I again ask myself if it is possible to have community online?
Although the similarities are great and many concepts can be used interchangeably between the two senses of community, we see that they are both truly different in their own respects. On the other hand, the uses of these online communities can offer the same, if not more benefits than those of the real world. These virtual communities provide those with social inhibitions a chance to overcome them by use of the computer, and even if these communities and relationships are short-lived, they still provide virtually the same benefits for self-creation as do chats in the real world.
Another aspect that we have seen is that community can be defined by our social networks as opposed to our physical proximity. These networks which share our same ideals and norms, have further expanded to a world-wide community whereas people from Snaggleburg, Louisiana will now be able to include someone from Europe or Africa into their community who shares these same ideals.
On the internet we create ourselves in the same fashion as we create ourselves in real life by use of bricolage. And although there is a loss of identity, new aspects and criteria of judgment become evident replacing the old, seemingly shallow judgments of looks and economic worth.
People display images of themselves everyday and whether it is borrowed or not does not mean it goes without worth because it was online or not. Finding ourselves is the greatest gift and adventure that we have in life, so it matters little upon which road we travel, as long as we reach this glorious goal in the end.