Week 2
Like most people in the class, I was certainly not aware of the spectacle as a concept, but after reading through the articles, it is definitely an issue to keep in mind. Social media facilitates and amplifies the fact that experiences gradually lose authenticity as something spreads to people across multiple platforms.
The kind of authenticity an individual loses results from the constant need to curate the self: finding the right selfie to post on Instagram; sharing a YouTube link that's gone viral--all of which can easily generate likes because they follow a trend. Despite the fact that social media could be used to enhance human interaction, this interaction has simply eroded into a mass of superficial experiences. We alienate the people around us for the sake of using social media, assuming that we are maintaining relationships online.
Based on my own personal experiences, I recently went on a cruise trip to the Bahamas and spent a day on an island called Coco Cay--probably one of the teeniest yet most gorgeous square mile of sand. As fun as it was touring the island on wave jets and strolling around the island with my family, there was a moment where I was on a lounger basking in sun rays. All I could think about was that this was the perfect Kodak moment that I wanted to share with close friends, so I did the typical #hotdogsorlegs picture.
However looking back at it, I was definitely taking part in creating a spectacle, and I wasn't as focused on just enjoying the moment with my family. Being in the Bahamas is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and to think that I was forgoing meaningful interactions with my family for the sake of following a photo trend was somewhat silly for me. I was taking pictures to maintain interactions with friends who live hundreds of miles away when the people who I should be spending more time with are within the closest vicinity. I could have been enjoying the sounds of ocean waves, the sights of little guppies in clear waters, the fact that these beaches were nothing like the ones in the U.S., but all these things were set aside so that I could curate into the person most people would be likely to see on social media.
It was important for me to realize that I was one of many people who would come across similar pictures on my friend's Instagram feeds, and I was taking part in the consumption of the spectacle--being at the beach even though I really couldn't be there.
