This whole '"selfies"-or-incessant-posting-of-pictures-of-oneself-on-facebook'-thing

[the splendor of antigone]

So what is going on here?
I firmly believe that these people who photo-document every single 'Event' in their lives do not actually enjoy said events unless the experience is validated by the Other (the social media community, their peers, whatever).

We all know that social media is all about projecting a certain image to the Other, an idealized self-image which makes the person in question feel validated, and with every positive affirmation (or negative probably functions as well) from the Other they gain an ephemeral feeling of self-worth and self-consistency which they then have to replicate again and again ad infinitum.

If these pathological narcissists do not enforce this ego-narrative ("Look at me! - I am the kind of person who does x, y, or z, loves p,r,q, and hates l,m,n") on social media, do you think they actually feel like a 'self'? I am absolutely bewildered by this.

Do they not know who they are unless their appearance/facade/act is addressed to and validated by the Other? Does their self-consistency depend on posting these f**king pictures -- seeing themselves as someone or something, -- and receiving a response to them?

Am I wrong in suggesting that if they do come across some spectacular thing in their lives, and they do not document the moment and post it online, it will have been less of a moment for them? No event seems to be anything unless it is inscribed into the Other's consciousness.
Am I writing too much ****?

Discuss

[Pat Vegas]

[Billy Goat Sverige]

[Monty91]

that it is a pretty unpalatable trend.

My girlfriend has set up a Facebook group purely to post photos of our new-born in a variety of seemingly happy poses that gives the impression we are all basking in domestic bliss.

In fact, the first 6 weeks since he was born have been utterly hellish with almost incessant crying every day. And that's just my girlfriend.

So why present this entirely false representation of our reality?

[Berni]

[Supermac1976]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/alnwick- teenager-tried-take-life-6869849 (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/alnwick-teenager-tried-take-life-6869849)

FFS :****er:

[the splendor of antigone]

times, when we all know how ****ty life can be at times.
And if your missus and you were genuinely blissfully happy (a utopian moment in human life probably) there would be absolutely no compulsion to address this happiness to the Other, because it would be self-contained and perfect etc.

I fear for the young people who are brought up looking at their peers through the likes of facebook, everyone documenting their seemingly perfect lives and contrasting it with the emotional turmoil and general self-doubt any teenager goes though.

What do the suicide statistics say these days?

[Monty91]

[Supermac1976]

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Faith+Hilling+and+Taylor+Swifting_f86b5a_3575988.j pg

And hit by trains...
http://www.anorak.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/jared-frank.gif

[Classic Jorge]

....even if he's on his way to court

[Dorset Gooner]

that you can share round the supper table at a family gathering. I'm not sure if I am replying to your post really as that is about selfies, but it does drive me insane when you go to an event, a gig for example & 99% of the people have a f**king phone in the air :furious: FFS you are at a live event, you have eyes, get that f**king thing out of my sightline you c**t!!!!

[redgunamo]

Paintings, books, radio, television, motion pictures etc.; digital and social media is simply the modern form.

We are social animals.

[the splendor of antigone]

shared with your kids etc. in the future, but exactly an event like the one you described. They can't enjoy a f**king concert unless it is through a phone. They'd have a bloody nervous breakdown if they were to actually be 'in the moment'.

[redgunamo]

Everyone already has some idea of what life with newborn babies is like.

Except me, of course. Best to just ignore the whole sordid business.

[Monty91]

They're no good if they need explaing, are they :-(

[the splendor of antigone]

[redgunamo]

[redgunamo]

[redgunamo]

:hehe:

[the splendor of antigone]

I remember reading about some war and how a bunch of women were held against their will by some soldiers being raped daily and tortured for such a long time.
In principle they could have killed themselves, but they explained how they needed to tell their story, hoping to get away. Eventually they did, but much to their horror the people who they told it to were dismissive and even joking about it insinuating that they enjoyed it or it wasn't that bad. It was only then they committed suicide.

So we always have that need to inscribe our experiences socially.

But the selfies thing is nothing like that imo.

[redgunamo]

How do you feel about watching football matches on television, for example?

[redgunamo]

[Dorset Gooner]

to your question I would watch football on the TV because I couldn't go to the event. If it was a gig then I would either buy the CD/DVD/Bluray/download if I wanted to watch it on a screen &/or hear it.

[redgunamo]

all that appears on social media is suggesting that everything is "fine and dandy" now, is it.

[redgunamo]

[the splendor of antigone]

Because of, and I quote Guy Debord, "the obvious degradation of being into having… and from having into appearing".
Late capitalism has turned appearance into a commodity. And selfies are an extension of that.

[Dorset Gooner]

about phones & food at the cinema :shout:

[Supermac1976]

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/premier- league-stars-love-rival-7169162 (http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/premier-league-stars-love-rival-7169162)
:hehe:

[redgunamo]

disorderly haste of active people?" Vertov.

Again, nothing new. People have always liked to look good :shrug:

[redgunamo]

Thankfully though, such behaviour is still rare at the theatre and the ballet and the opera. I like to steer clear of pop concerts :-)

[the splendor of antigone]

appearance, i.e. constituting themselves through the images provided by the advertisement industry or consumer culture; defining themselves and projecting/displaying an image online through these.

And you'll probably say it's always been like that just in differently evolved stages. I don't agree.

[redgunamo]

[the splendor of antigone]

[redgunamo]

Brando's (or whoever's). You have the means to put your own self on video or television, rather than merely the idealised ones provided by the studios. You can sing your own songs and share your own music with the world, instead of just consuming Top of the Pops.

And so on.

[the splendor of antigone]

I could write a very long post explaining it, but you'd probably rather I didn't.

[redgunamo]

All I can see is, we are simply used to seeing "stars" and celebrities in this fashion. Ourselves, our friends and neighbours, ordinary people; not so much. So it's mildly disconcerting but not really much different over time though, for a' that.

One of my favourite movies is "Public Enemies", with Christian Bale, from a few years back. It deals with precisely this topic.

[the splendor of antigone]

[redgunamo]

http://www.awimb.com/fudforum/index.php?t=tree&th=568011 &mid=3887792&rid=0&S=e8741dd97f73198671976330e0c c9889&rev=&reveal= (http://www.awimb.com/fudforum/index.php?t=tree&th=568011&mid=3887792&rid=0&S=e8741dd97f73198671976330e0cc9889&rev=&reveal=)

[the splendor of antigone]

People didn't use paintings, books, tv, or motion pictures as a vehicle to create idealized self-images to project/display to other people for validation or recognition. Social media is a reality in which people constitute their own egos, they try to appear in a certain way, inscribe themselves into the structure of all these other people who do the very same thing, and seem to define themselves in this space.

[redgunamo]

And everyone else viewing it, of course.

If I view a painting or a Shakespeare play, I share that experience with everybody else who has viewed it too, over the centuries.

Still a part of the experience remains unique to me though. And this defines, to a wider audience, how I am seen and validates how I see myself.

Like supporting a football team, for example.

[the splendor of antigone]

I am talking about how the ego comes to be constituted and how we use ideal images of ourselves to gain a level of consistency.

But let's just leave it, innit :wave:

[redgunamo]

not just rich, powerful people who can afford to have artists paint "selfie" portraits for them, constituting their ego and presenting an ideal image which becomes consistent over time. This impulse is merely more available to everyone now; more democratic, befitting the times.

But you're right, we are talking too much **** :-)

[the splendor of antigone]

reified ego, the seat of consciousness and ego-discourse. I'm shutting up now btw :hehe: