So here’s a s
ecret. I once tried out and was pretty much cast for a reality TV show. Actually, I turned down the opportunity just before the final cast was announced. When I tell people this story, I get one of two reactions. Some of my friends are entirely appalled/surprised that I would even consider something like reality TV. The other half of my friends are bitter I didn’t do it. Even with two entirely different views on the situation, I have only on response: I believe reality TV is a product of several theoretical equations. I wanted to prove my point through anthropological immersion. Plus, its a helluva story.
But the more I watch the reality TV the more I begin to see the true “reality” in it. Yes, people are staged or coached into doing certain things. Yes, money seems to not be a barrier for doing anything [unless it’s built into some type of crazy plot twist]. Yes, the whole world- from the wardrobe to the circumstances- are fabricated. However, even with all of these “fake” influences, there are still very real components. Take for example The Jersey Shore. Here 7 people who have virtually no income, who still live at home at the age of 25, with extreme tanning, fist pumping, & hair poofing tendencies live in one house together. Even though the cast is carefully selected to have a bitch, a tough girl, a victim, and crazy one…. that’s not what I see. Instead I focus on the endearing quality that the cast finds ways to have fun even in the worst of situation. Perhaps the true magic of the cast is not that are a perfectly orchestrated public catastrophe [which they are], but rather that even with everything working against them they still maintain their celebration attitude. And why do they do that, because at the end of the day that’s who they are! It’s something that simply can’t be hidden by all the commotion.
How does this apply to social media? Well in many ways interactions between digital users are heavily orchestrated. There are character limits that control length. Internal emotions cause us to perhaps present ourselves slightly differently then we would in person. There are less barriers to interaction. Much like alcohol and endless money act as catalysts for our Guido loving ladies, social sites remove barriers and act as the catalyst to our interactions with each other, albeit digitally. Even with all of this pushing us to interact, connect, & some might even say “live” in what in our fabricated world, we still who we are- no matter how much that might be masked by the circumstances and opportunities our online lives present us.
