The Show Part 7: Our Lives Were Anticipated, By Us

by Jefferson Hansen

(This is a series of posts reflecting on the place of "the show" in contemporary society and culture.)

We can ask whether or not a tree falls in a forest when there is nobody there to hear it. But there is now a more relevant question: Does anything happen, in a meaningful way, if it is not filmed or photographed? Digitalized "film" is slowly being accorded more reality than that which is filmed: Something not filmed is becoming irrelevant and quaint. More and more, we live in the show, as spectators and participants.

Advertising seems to be the governing metaphor for social media. On Facebook, for instance, people construct a self. Generally, this "self" seems optimistic, confident, and successful. Occasional posts admit difficulties, but, for the most part, posts seem promotional. In this way, we advertise our constructed "self."

A person who posts consistently about difficulties, depression, and so forth may seem quaint and funny. Or simply annoying. What is clear is that they are not playing the game. Their constructed self puts them out of bounds.

Advertising yourself has now become a type of fun.

This gets most acute on dating sites. People sell themselves as a potential good partner.

We not only advertise a representation of "self" that supposedly exists outside the advertisement, we also create a self for the sake of advertisement: participation in social media alters and forms our behavior in the rest of our life. The most obvious example is posing for a picture that will be posted on Facebook. The posing would not take place without the existence of cameras and social media.

More subtly, seeing films and pictures of friends on Facebook may inspire us to try something similar or to one-up them in a competition. For instance, seeing a friend doing a type of ski jump may inspire us to try it ourselves.

Film, Facebook, self-construction, advertising affects our behavior.

What's more, to what extent is our behavior formed by a desire to look attractive, fun, charming on a social media platform? How often do we engage in something, beyond posing, solely for the sake of the camera? Might we throw a party in order to film it, thereby advertising ourselves as with-it people?

For fun, we create and live in advertisements similar to the ones on network television we once decried as annoying.

There has always been performance. But for the most part, this performance was ornamental, a distraction from the duties and needs of making a living and fulfilling basic obligations. Now, the performance defines us, is, in a sense, our duty and obligation. The presentation of a "self" is what makes the economy hum, by creating demand.

Social media allows us to create "grassroots" demand, which professional advertisers can then stoke.

Our lives were anticipated, by us.